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61ST CONGEESS \ 

1st Session J 



SENATE 



/ Document 
\ No. 70 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE 37 ? 
UNITED STATES 



HISTORY OF A GREAT INDUSTRY; ITS 
RISE AND PROGRESS IN BOSTON, NOW 
THE SECOND MARKET OF THE WORLD 






A 



PRESENTED BY MR. WARREN 
June 2, 1909. — Ordered to be printed 



WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 



4' 



«\ 



4>\ 









Office of the Commercial Bulletin, 

77 Kirby Street. 

Boston, June SO, 1902. 
Hon. Francis E. Warren, 

U. S. Senate, Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir: We take pleasure in sending you by this mail the copy 
of our issue of December 14, 1901, desired. 

Regarding the history of the wool trade of which you write, this 
was begun for us by Mr. J. T. Shaw, the present secretary of the 
American Woolen Company of this city, but we were later compelled 
to bring it to an abrupt conclusion with the number you mention, 
owing to the fact that Mr. Shaw considered himself too busy at the 
time he was appointed secretary of the American Woolen Company 
to complete his contract. 

Faithfully, yours, Curtis Guild & Co. 






THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



HISTORY OF A GREAT INDUSTRY— ITS RISE AND PROGRESS IN BOSTON, 
NOW THE SECOND MARKET OF THE WORLD. 



[Written for Boston Commercial Bulletin. Copyrighted.] 



I. 



PRENATAL. 



to 1808. 



Trading in wool as a business by itself has been followed in the 
United States less than a hundred years. Yet in 1897 the volume of 
business in wool at the country's chief wool center surpassed that of 
any other market in the New or in the Old World. 

This marvelously rapid advance in a trade is significant in many 
ways. It first reflects the growth of the country and the development 
of its natural resources. It bears conclusive witness to the progressive 
character of the people and their adaptability to the intricacies of 
commerce and finance. It shows their daring in the manipulation of 
a vast volume of the world's commodities, their fearlessness in opera- 
tions involving millions of dollars placed at a venture, their shrewd- 
ness, calculativeness, and their confidence in self -judgment and native 
resource. 

But more than all else this evolution, within a century from an 
embryonic trade of bartering by comparatively valued commodities 
to a business encompassing hundreds of millions of pounds of wool 
and involving extensive capital, evidences the patient, remitless toil, 
the unconquerable energy, and the ingenuity of the several genera- 
tions of men who built up the wool manufacturing industry of this 
country to its present well-nigh peerless perfection. 



BIRTH OP THE TRADE. 

In the early part of the present century wool manufacture in 
America was in its birth throes. At the dawn of the nineteenth 
century the production of woolen cloths was just emerging from a 
household industry to its more comprehensive scope as a public enter- 
prise. During the period of colonial life the agriculturists, consti- 
tuting the greater part of our people, spun their yarn from their own 
carded wool and wove their cloths for wear at their own hearth- 
stones. Later, as the colonists became generally more affluent, the 
imported English goods were most widely worn, while homespun 
clothing was confined chiefly to the poorer people and those living 
near to the soil. 

3 



4 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

England watched with jealousy the expanding desire shown by the 
colonists to clothe themselves with their own homespun garments, 
and when it became evident that the Americans were about to embark 
independently upon the enterprise of wool manufacture, the mother 
country stood ready to use every means in her power to preserve the 
industry and trade to herself and to stamp out the nascent establish- 
ment in the New World. The first mill in the United States for the 
entire production of cloth from wool as it was taken from the sheep's 
back was built and put into operation toward the close of the eight- 
eenth century, some half dozen years after the treaty at Paris. 

EARLY FULLING MILLS. 

For nearly a century and a half mills for fulling the cloth as it 
was brought woven from the homesteads had been in existence in 
every settlement of prominence throughout the eastern colonies, being 
generally run in conjunction with the village saw or grist mill and 
forming nearly as important an adjunct to the village industries. 

Presently these fulling mills added the archaic hand cards to their 
equipment, and their usefulness expanded. Farmers would send 
their cleansed wool to the mills to be carded into rolls suitable for 
spinning, and when the yarn had been woven into cloth at the hearth- 
stone another trip was made to the mill to bring back the cloth fulled 
and finished. But it was not until 1788 that a movement was set on 
foot to differentiate wool manufacture from a household industry. In 
this year a fund was raised in Connecticut by subscription td estab- 
lish at Hartford. a plant for the manufacture of woolen cloth. 

THE HARTFORD WOOLEN COMPANY. 

On the 2d of May, 1788, the Hartford Woolen Company announced 
that business operations should be at once begun as soon as sufficient 
wool had been secured by the agent. At the beginning of the fol- 
lowing year, 1789, the company held its first sale of cloth, which was 
of a satisfactory quality when there were taken into consideration 
the mill's ramshackle equipment and the poor quality of the raw 
material. Yet goods of British make, of better quality, imported 
over a duty of 5 per cent, undersold the American goods in the town 
of their manufacture. 

This first enterprise was a much-qualified success, since its opera- 
tive facilities were of the most crude character, such as might have 
been found on a smaller scale in every household throughout New 
England. Competition under these conditions with foreign goods 
was impracticable. The Hartford Woolen Company lived, however, 
to attain the unique and creditable distinction of supplying the 
Union's first and greatest President with his inaugural suit of clothes, 
and shortly afterwards went out of business. 

ARTHUR AND JOHN SCHOFIELI). 



Six years after this first attempt newer methods of manufacture 
were introduced into the United States through the efforts of two 
English mechanics, who had come to win their fortune in America 
and had brought with them their knowledge of the English wool 






THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 5 

manufacture of that day. These two brothers, Arthur and John 
Schofield, came to the United States in 1793, and as theirs was the 
first attempt made in America to manufacture woolens in a manner 
similar to that in the matured mills of Europe, their efforts deserve 
permanent record in the annals of the industries. 

In October of 1794 the Schofields had constructed and put into 
operation America's first carding machine, and its successful work- 
ings attracted widespread interest and attention. The machine placed 
the industry on a higher and more matured plane, and once it was 
thus fairly under way it expanded rapidly, rearing its youthful head 
with somewhat amazing frequency throughout the Xew England and 
other Xorthern and Eastern States. 

It gave to the eighteenth century as its chief product, and in addi- 
tion to the staple broadcloth made from the imported fine wools, 
such coarse, rough cloth as could alone be made from the harsh, 
heavy fibered wool of the domesticated sheep of America. Spanish 
sheep, before the days of the merino, producing coarse wool suitable 
only for carpets, had been early introduced into Mexico. The sheep 
of Virginia and Massachusetts were of the English breed of that 
time, long legged, narrow chested, yielding very coarse wool, not 
at all similar to the highly bred Lincolns and Shropshires of to-day. 
The flock in Xew York State, comprising chiefly the lowland sheep 
of Holland, were not unlike the breed in Massachusetts. 

The mills of the late eighteenth century drew upon supplies of 
foreign wool for a good share of their raw material. But the cost 
of the imported wool, disproportionate, though at that time duty 
free in its relation to the production of cloths from domestic wool, 
rendered dependence upon foreign stock undesirable and encumbered 
the progress of the industry with additional obstacles. 

PROTECTION ADVANCES THE INDUSTRY. 



With the ushering in of the nineteenth century the newly born in- 
dustry appeared to acquire fresh life. The minimum of protection 
afforded by the first tariff of the United States, enacted in 1789. was 
turned to every possible advantage by the manufacturers. This first 
tariff was apparently not designed to extend protection to the wool 
manufacture, nor, indeed, was protection its first purpose. After the 
Revolution the country was burdened with an extensive war debt, and 
to alleviate this load an act was passed on July 4, 1789, which laid 
a duty upon almost all incoming merchandise. In its preamble 
reference was made to the necessity for " encouragement and protec- 
tion of manufacturers," but in view of the undeveloped condition of 
the wool manufacture in the United States at that time, and its lack 
of recognition as a public industry in Alexander Hamilton's com- 
prehensive report some two years later, it is safe to conclude that the 
duty on importations of woolen goods was designed for purposes of 
revenue only. 

In 1800 our consuls and ministers resident abroad were inculcated 
with the idea of infusing into the flocks of America the high breed 
attained in sheep husbandry in foreign countries. Their first efforts 
were attended with the usual obstacles which greet the inception of all 
new ideas. In 1801 the first full-blooded merino buck imported into 
the United States was brought by M. Dupont de Xemours, who had 



6 THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

secured from the French Government 4 lambs from a flock of 4,000 
merino sheep presented to France through the Spanish treaty of 
Basel. Of the 4 sheep with which M. Dupont had started for Amer- 
ica only one survived the voyage, but his progeny, distributed through 
New York and later through Delaware, materially enriched the breed 
in those States. 

EXPENSIVE MUTTON. 

Previous attempts to bring Spanish sheep into America had been 
unsuccessful. The Hon. William Foster, of Boston, in 1793, smuggled 
into this country, on account of their exportation being prohibited, 
two ewes and a ram of Spanish breed and gave them to his friend, 
Andrew Craigie, of Cambridge. Mr. Craigie, ignorant of their value 
as wool producers, rejoiced in their excellence as mutton, but some 
years later when he was called upon to pay $1,000 for a ram of similar 
breed was forced to regret his hasty appetite. 

Dr. James Mease, of Philadelphia, endeavored to secure merino 
sheep from abroad as early as 1796-97, but his consignments were 
lost en route, and it was some years later before his attempts in that 
respect met with success. 

In this same year of 1801 Arthur Schofield, one of the two me- 
chanics who had first brought English methods into American fac- 
tories, completed the first improved carding machine in New England. 
One of the many obstacles which England imposed in the way of the 
growing wool manufacturing industry of America was prohibiting 
from being sent to this country any plans, patterns, machinery, or its 
parts, such as were in common use in the highly perfected English 
mills. Thus Schofield was obliged to make several voyages to the 
land of his birth to familiarize himself with English machines so that 
he might from memory construct similar works in the country of his 
adoption. His successful endeavors in the year noted constituted the 
greatest single step yet made in America's nascent industry, and to 
his efforts and those of his brother John more than to any one thing 
else is due the early establishment of wool manufacturing in this 
country. 

The fulling mills, though indispensable to the colonists, were not 
of the same importance in the development of wool manufacture 
as was the Schofields' carding mill, which was the true precursor of 
the woolen mill of to-day. The former, when the manufacture of 
woolen cloths was distinctly a household enterprise, afforded a sepa- 
rate trade in itself, and even into the youth of the nineteenth century 
the " clothier " of the colonists yet practiced his Calling. 

THE MERINO STRAIN. 

In the following year, that of 1802, greater and more important 
progress was made in the infusion of the merino strain into the 
American flocks. Through the instigation of Hon. David Hum- 
phreys, ambassador from the United States to the court of Madrid, 
100 merino sheep were purchased in Spain and driven across Portu- 
gal to Lisbon by three Spanish shepherds, under an escort guard of 
Portuguese soldiers. This little flock was brought to New York by 
the ship Perseverance, in which the brothers Schofield had nine years 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 

earlier taken passage to America, and from thence taken by sloop to 
Derby, Conn. 

The Hon. Kobert R. Livingston, minister resident at Paris, in the 
same year secured for exportation to America a half dozen sheep 
from the imperial flock of France, which had been established at 
Chalons in 1786. Mr. Livingston had his flock of merinos brought 
to his farm at Clermont, in Columbia County, N. Y., and his first 
attempt to establish merino stock in America shortly achieved won- 
derful success. 

The introduction of these two lots of pure merino breed consti- 
tuted a most important step in sheep husbandry in America, and was 
the first of many efforts in a similar direction, which in a few years 
brought the flocks of the country to a much higher grade of useful- 
ness as wool producers. As soon as the superior merino wool was 
found to be raised in quantitj^, fine woolen mills, with improved and 
necessary equipment, were established; inducements were thereby 
given to growers to multiply the number of their fine wool growing 
sheep, and many were encouraged to engage both in the growing and 
the manufacture of the finest wool. 

COL. DAVID HUMPHREYS. 

In the year 1803 Col. David Humphreys, who had done such serv- 
iceable work in American sheep husbandry, engaged in operating a 
fulling mill in Derby, Conn. This enterprise some years later took 
him into the business of wool manufacturing in accordance with the 
methods perfected first by the Schofields, which had quickly been 
diffused throughout the United States. Associated with Colonel 
Humphreys in this work was a skilled maker of woolen cloths, trained 
in the factories of England, and the energy and financial resources 
of the one united with the knowledge of his trade and the skill 
in labor of the other presently rendered their mill the best equipped 
and one of the most successful of the American wool manufactories 
of that day. 

This mill produced chiefly the finest of domestic broadcloths, said to 
be " inferior to none which is imported," which brought $4.50 per 
yard. An account of the factory, written some feV years later, how- 
ever, states that the equipment consisted of "4 breaker and finisher 
cards, 2 jennies, a billy with 40 spindles, a picker, 4 fulling mills, 
2 newly invented shearing machines, 4 broad looms, 8 narrow looms, 
and 18 stocking frames. 

II. 



The Schofields also were not idle at this time, and although en- 
gaged principally in the construction of carding machines, yet found 
opportunity to establish woolen factories here and there in New 
England. One of their mills at Pittsfield, Mass., was the first pro- 
ducer in the country of broadcloth from merino wool. The fabric 
in question was gray mixed, and when it was offered for sale in the 
town of its production the local -dealers looked at it askance. 

Some short time later one of the principal merchants of Pittsfield 
brought back from New York several pieces of this same cloth, which 
he had purchased there for " foreign " goods. Together with his 
Pittsfield woolen mill. Arthur Schofield conducted the manufacture 



8 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

of single and double carding machines of improved pattern, which 
he sold complete for $400, although several years earlier his carding 
machines had brought as high as $1,300 each. 

Livingston's flock of merinos. 

During this same period finest merino bucks from Spain com- 
manded $300 a head, and the profitable opportunities afforded by the 
expansion of the merino flocks in America encouraged considerable 
enterprise in that direction. In 1807 Robert R. Livingston issued to 
a local agricultural society a very interesting report on the condition 
of his imported merinos, showing the profits which had accrued from 
their yield. His 5 full-blood merinos of Rambouillet stock had that 
year yielded 28f pounds of wool, which was sold for 10 shillings per 
pound. From interbreeding Mr. Livingston had secured 24 three- 
quarter bred sheep, which gave 106 pounds of wool that brought 5 
shillings a pound (though valued at 8), and 30 half-bred sheep, which 
yielded 139J pounds of wool, for which 5 shillings per pound was 
obtained. This sale was one of the first of that sort of wool which 
had taken place in the United States. Full-blood ram lambs brought 
$100 each, while seven-eighths bred ewes were worth $40. 

From the few attempts which had been made to introduce merino 
sheep into this country such successful results had been obtained that 
farmers here and there throughout the North and East were paying 
more attention to sheep husbandly. The demand for the finest wool 
was still further augmented by the establishment of several new 
manufactories, adapted for working it into the best cloth of the 
period; but, although this demand was considerably in excess of the 
domestic supply, woolen manufacture in general had received all 
told but a small share of the country's attention. 

THE COUNTRY'S COMMERCIAL INTERESTS. 

The United States was then dominated by tw^o industrial and com- 
mercial classes. These were the agriculturists, developing the natural 
resources of the country and extending the possibilities of native 
production, and the merchants who dealt in these products in their 
own country, but concerned themselves most particularly in trading 
with other nations. Excellent prices were obtained for all natural 
products, and the extensive markets open to American enterprise in 
colonial days were further increased in the latter part of the eighteenth 
century by the political disturbances of southwestern Europe. More- 
over, the carrying trade the world over was an exceedingly profitable 
venture-, offering especial inducements to Americans who shipped 
from their own ports the natural produce of the land and brought 
back the finished goods from foreign markets. 

The cost of importation was relatively so meager that the thought 
of building up a manufacturing industry sufficient in itself to supply 
all domestic wants hardly suggested itself to the country. It is true 
that the stern object lesson offered by the lack of sufficient clothing 
during periods of the Revolution was felt the country over, yet when 
the war was at an end and importations were again being received 
the people became indifferent to the possibilities of a repetition of 
the same scarcity and want, which the future might, and. indeed, did, 
hold for them. 



THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



9 



RIVAL INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS. 

Moreover, the two distinct commercial interests of the United 
States were in themselves so very profitable, rendered so by the 
peculiar conditions of the world's trading, that the greater body of 
Americans had become accustomed to their promotion alone. Any 
nascent interests that promised to rival or antagonize these pursuits 
were especial objects of aversion, and in the popular fear that the new 
manufacturing industries might divert labor and capital from the 
nation's accepted callings adverse legislation even was not wanting 
to protect the latter from encroachment. 

In 1802 the peace of Amiens set Europe at rest for a time, and the 
return of the soldiers to their trades and industries affected notably 
the growing volume of America's foreign commerce. During the two 
years of European tranquillity which followed, our carrying trade 
lessened markedly, and with a check to this enterprise internal in- 
dustries secured a moment's respite in which they established more 
firmly their hard-won position. In 1804, however, our carrying 
trade increased magnificently, and up to and including 1807 domi- 
nated all other interest in this country. In this latter year the exports 
of the United States reached the highest value yet attained, nor was 
it surpassed until 1838. It amounted in value to $108,343,150, an in- 
crease in sixteen years of $89,331,109. The imports into the United 
States during the same year were valued at $138,500,000, also a high- 
water mark. 



MANUFACTURES DEVELOP 



WITH RESTRICTION TO FOREIGN COMMERCE. 

1808-1814. • 



In 1808 began the retaliatory acts of the United States directed 
against Great Britain, which culminated four years later in actual 
warfare. The first of these was the famous embargo act which, pro- 
hibiting American vessels from engaging in any foreign trade and 
foreign vessels from taking cargoes from the United States, prac- 
tically destroyed, for the time being, all American commerce with 
other lands. In the following year the too stringent act of 1808 was 
modified to the form of nonintercourse only with England and 
France, but the commerce of the United States with other nations, 
which had received its first serious blow, languished and lessened in 
volume for seven consecutive years. 

During this suspension of foreign trade the manufacturing indus- 
tries of the country made their first great progress. TTith the partial 
cessation of importations there came the greater necessity for supply- 
ing home wants from domestic sources. Furthermore, American mer- 
chants, exporting and importing traders, had made a great deal of 
money during the prosperous season of extensive commerce, whose 
curtailment left much unemployed capital all over the country. 

The unsparing efforts of the Schofields, of Humphreys, and others 
no less persevering or energetic had shown to the people of the 
United States the possibilities afforded by an extensive manufactur- 
ing industry. Consequently the current of national attention ran 
largely in that direction, slowly, at first, as the difficulties of the 
enterprise appeared greater than the results would warrant, but 
gathering volume and force as the dependence of the country upon 



l 



10 THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

home supplies increased each year with the continued exclusion of 
foreign goods. 

The result thus noted was not, however, of immediate ensuance 
upon the restrictive acts. Indeed, internal industry and commerce 
was at first much depressed and demoralized by the stoppage of for- 
eign commerce, which had the effect of checking the free circulation 
of currency. But later, when absolute prohibition of foreign trade 
had been changed to nonimportation, specie flowed rapidly into the 
United States and money became more plentiful. 

NEED OF FINE WOOL. 

The chief hindrance to rapid progress in wool manufacture was 
the small available supplies of desirable raw material, and to the end 
of establishing an adequate fine-wool producing flock in the United 
States several prominent agriculturists bent their efforts. Assured 
of a ready market for all the fine wool that could be grown, promoters 
of merino breeding pursued their attempts on a much more extensive 
scale than heretofore. Mr. Livingston had, between 1807 and 1811, 
increased his stock to the number of 645 sheep from full to half blood, 
and 310 of the best American ewes and half or three-fourths wethers. 
There had also been brought to Cheshire, Mass., sheep of the English 
breed known as New Leicester or Bakewell and from this flock half- 
blood ram lambs sold for $30 per head. 

The full-blood merino sheep of Spanish breed, which had come 
from the flocks of Mr. Livingston in New York and of Colonel Hum- 
phreys in Connecticut, rose rapidly in price as their value in wool 
manufacture became generally recognized. Their scarcity in that 
period commanded for them seemingly extravagant prices, since 
from $500 to $1,500 was paid for single rams. In 1809 Hon. William 
Jarvis, American consul at Lisbon, whose home was at Weathersfield, 
Vt., sent to this country 1,400 merino sheep, purchased from the 
crown flocks of Eseuriel, which were sold at that time by order of 
the French Government. A short time afterwards Mr. jarvis sent 
over 2,500 more full-blood merinos, which increase to the American 
flock some years afterwards reduced the prices which the breed earlier 
commanded, but which also greatly assisted fine wool manufacture in 
this country. 

PROMOTION OF THE MERINO BREED. 

In 1810 public auctions Avere held at Philadelphia for the sale of 
fine merinos. Full-blood sheep brought from $230 to $250 each. One 
lot comprising 25 sold for $5,900, while a lot of 63 ewes brought $250 
a head. For full-blood bucks as high as $350 was obtained. In New 
York State, where promoters of fine sheep husbandry were more ener- 
getic in their endeavors and the merinos were even more scarce, fine 
bucks were sold at $500 to $1,500 a head. 

In 1811 sj^stematic movements were made in France and in Eng- 
land to propagate the valuable merino breed and for this purpose 
societies were formed, after which Americans patterned. One such 
organization, known as the Merino Society of the Middle States, held 
its first meeting at the farm of its president, near Haddonfield, N. J. 
Several hundred full-blood merinos were exhibited, and the interest 
awakened was shown in the publication shortly afterwards by the 



THE WOOL TBADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



11 



society of a list of premiums of from $20 to $50 for essays on sheep 
husbandry and for best examples of the merino stock. 

The earliest census report of the number of sheep in the United 
States was that for the year 1810, when the total number was esti- 
mated to be 10,000,000. Of this number, however, only a very small 
proportion produced wool that could be used with any degree of 
satisfaction in the woolen or worsted mills of that day. The esti- 
mated yield of wool in the same year was reported at 13,000,000 
pounds, which, when compared with the number of sheep, showing 
an average yield of 1.3 pounds per sheep, reflects the difficulties under 
which the statistician of 1810 labored. 



EEVIVAL IN MANUFACTURING. 



A revival in domestic industries had followed the temporary check 
upon internal commerce exerted by the disturbance in the country's 
foreign relations. By 1809 a quite plentiful supply of the necessary 
quality of wool was available for manufacturers of fine cloths and the 
very satisfactory profit on finished goods, which the scarcity of 
woolen goods in America afforded, induced several new ventures in 
their manufacture. During this year several factories, in a small 
way, were started in Massachusetts, which State already contained 
some of the most important mills in the Union, James Beaumont was 
then making satinets in his mill, on the Neponset River, which he had 
built the year previous. This fabric, which was woven with a warp 
of sea-island cotton, was very popular and commanded, according 
to Beaumont's own account, $3.50 per yard. 

Following the example of the Hartford Woolen Company, which 
had supplied Washington with his inaugural clothes, the factory of 
Colonel Humphreys this year sent President-elect Madison a coat 
made from the finest merino wool, while the recipient wore also on his 
inauguration a waistcoat and small- clothes from fleeces of the Liv- 
ingston flock, of Clermont. 

In 1810, Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin, in response to a reso- 
lution by the House, taken in 1809, submitted a partially complete 
report on the manufactures of the country. Information had been 
obtained, among other subjects, on 15 woolen mills, although there 
were undoubtedly a number more in existence at that time. These 
mills were established one each at New Ipswich, N. H. ; Byfield, 
Mass.; Warwick and Portsmouth, R. I.; Humphrey sville (Derby), 
Conn. ; Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; two on the Brandywine, Del. ; one each 
at Baltimore, Elkton, and Frederick, Md. ; three and some smaller 
ones at Philadelphia and one at Germantown, Pa. The capital of 
these 15 mills was from $3,000 to $20,000 each. They employed from 
8 to 29 hands and produced annually from 5,000 to 27,000 yards of 
cloth. 

The factories at Humphrey sville, Poughkeepsie, and one of the 
mills on the Brandywine made chiefly broadcloth from the merino 
wool. The origin of these 3 manufactories can be traced to the im- 
portation of Spanish full-blood merinos made, respectively, by Colonel 
Humphreys, Robert R. Livingston, and M. Dupont. The average 
price secured for their products by the 15 mills noted in Secretary 
Gallatin's report was from $1 to $i0 per yard. 



12 THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

III. 

The quality of manufacture, in the mills included in Gallatin's 
report, was said to be superior to the imported goods, although the 
American manufacturers were not yet able to impart the nicety and 
elegance of finish to their cloths that were presented by the foreign 
fabrics. Secretary Gallatin stated, further, that the principal ob- 
stacle to the expansion of the industry was the lack of wool in suit- 
able quality. The flock was, however, gradually improving through 
the infusion of the merino breed. In spite of the increasing number 
of woolen factories, the production of cloths had by no means been 
taken entirety from the household. Gallatin's report showed that 
during the years of restricted commerce an extraordinary extension 
of home spinning and weaving had been made. Indeed, it was esti- 
mated that two-thirds of the cloth, including hosiery, house and table 
linen used by inhabitants outside of the larger cities was the 
product of family manufacture. In Delaware 150.000 pounds of wool 

[was annually spun and woven in private families. In New Hamp- 
shire nearly every township of a few hundred families had a carding 
and fulling mill. The former cost about $500 and carded wool for 
7 cents a pound, with 3 cents additional where the oil was found by 

(the carder. In this State there were in all about 140 fulling mills. 

] whose average cost was $1,500. They received for dressing, annually, 
about 6,700 yards each, $1,225, of which sum $600 was for labor and 
materials. The cost of manufacturing 18 pounds of wool into 20 
yards of cloth was about $21.24. This cloth was finer and more 
durable than English cloth which sold in the stores for $3.50 per 
yard. Vermont had 163 fulling mills. 

The origin of the first carding machine employed in America is 
disputed, contradictory evidence having been presented to prove its 
construction both in England and the United States. The machine 
came into the possession of Eufus S. Frost, of Boston, and was ex- 
hibited by him at the Mechanics' Fair in Boston, in 1890, with card 
attached stating that " it was built in England in 1792. and was 
shipped to this country in two parts by John Lees and Abram Mar- 
land, afterwards of Andover, Mass., and John and Arthur Scholfield. 
It was put together in Chariest own, Mass., and run there about three 
years by John Lees ; also in Byfield Parish about four years by said 
Lees in connection with William Bartlett, a wealthy shipowner, of 
Newburyport ; afterwards run in Nashua, Janrey. and Marlboro. 
N. H., by a Mr. Fisk, and for the last fifty-three years by Mr. James 
Townsend in Marlboro, X. H., who is about 93 years of age." 

Later, the Davis & Furber Machine Company, of North Andover. 
Mass., purchased the machine from the estate of Eufus S. Frost, in 
whose possession it now remains. Mr. S. X. D. North, secretary of 
the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, became interested 
in the history of the carding machine, and his inquiries elicited the 
following convincing letter from the Hon. Eoyal C. Taft, of Provi- 

dence Iv L * 

Providence. R. I.. March 19, 1 896. 
S. N. D. North, Secretary. 

Dear Sir: Some years since I sent to Hon. Rufus S. Frost a copy of my 
book, Some Notes on the Woolen Manufacture in the United States, from 
which resulted some correspondence relative to the first carding machine built 
in this country. Mr. Frost supposed that his carding machine was the one 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 

referred to in my narrative and that it was imported from England. His 
authority, as he admitted, was only a statement which he supposed to be cor- 
rect. The evidence upon which I based my statement was given me by James 
Scholfield in 1872, when he was 88 years old, and verified in 1882, when I 
rewrote the book. James Scholfield was 9 years old when the Scholfields 
moved to Newburyport, and 11 years old when the Byfield factory was 
started. Mr. Scholfield was perfectly clear in his recollection and positive that 
the machine was built under his father's direction at Newburyport. Mr. Frost 
was positive that it was the first machine, but in face of the direct evidence I 
had from Mr. Scholfield doubted if he was correct in claiming the machine to 
have been made in England. This correspondence was only a short time before 
the decease of Mr. Frost. What led me and the Scholfields to our conclusion 
was a written statement by a grandson of John Scholfield, who was desirous 
of having his grandfather receive the credit which was his due and prepared 
and left behind him the substance of what I certified through James Scholfield. 
It was a common subject of talk among the Scholfield family, several of whom 
have written me thanking me for the investigation which I made and the 
giving credit to their grandfather for what they had all known from him and 
his children. 

Royal C. Taft. 

[The above material has been placed in our hands through the courtesy of the 
Davis & Furber Machine Company, of North Andover.] 

The census of 1810, showing the population of the United States 
to be 7,293,903, for the first time enumerated the manufactures of 
the country. The report stated that there were 9,528,266 yards of 
woolen goods made in families. There were 1,776 carding and 1,682 
fulling mills, 372,743 spinning wheels, 122,647 spindles, and 225,392 
looms. 

In 1811, Dupont, who had probably conducted one of the two mills 
on the Brandywine mentioned in Treasurer Gallatin's report, pre- 
pared in partnership with Bauduy an extensive plant on the same 
stream for the manufacture of superfine broadcloths. 

During the four years of the restriction to commerce immediately 
preceding the war of 1812, the total annual exports and imports had 
shown a falling off in value of $132,143,150. The importing trade 
had, however, suffered more than the exports, the decrease in the 
value of the annual importations being $85,100,000. Exports had 
decreased nearly one-half, but in the year of 1811 exceeded in value 
that of the imports. 

FOREIGN COMMERCE RESTRICTED. 

For four consecutive years Americans had witnessed the rapid de- 
struction of one of their chief sources of income and one which was 
popularly believed to be the most advantageous for the country to 
foster and extend. The acts of Congress, meditated by Presidents 
Jefferson and Madison, which directly effected the suspension of for- 
eign commerce, brought about a strict division in political sentiment. 
New England jealouslv considered her interests to be sacrificed for 
the benefit of the rest of the Union and by several covert acts of 
remonstrance incurred the suspicion of the Middle and Southern 
States, which feeling developed some few years later into direct oppo- 
sition to legislation designed to encourage and to protect northern 
manufacturers. During these four years of practical withdrawal 
from foreign trade the manufacturing industries of the country had 
made very satisfactory progress, but it remained for the absolute 
dependence of the country upon home production during the ensuing 



14 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

years of warfare to form the incentive for the most rapid and 'exten- 
sive development of these industries yet witnessed. At times in the 
seven years of Revolutionary conflict" the country had felt the stress 
of being unable to supply its own necessities in clothing and now the 
scarcity was to be repeated. 

THE IMPETUS OF THE WAR. 

Absolute prohibition of importing woolen goods began with the 
ninety days of embargo which preceded the war, and when the 
people of the country found themselves actually engaged in pursuing 
hostilities with the chief manufacturing nation of the world they set 
themselves in earnest to provide for their own wants. The wearing 
of homespun was not confined to the poorer classes and farmers, but 
prominent men in both cities and towns set the example of appearing 
in these plainly woven and finished clothes when it became evident 
that the production of broadcloths was inadequate for the demand. 
Manufacturers of the latter goods soon caught the impetus, while new 
enterprises cropped out here and there throughout the Union. Never 
was the necessity for sufficient supplies of fine wool more apparent. 
Agriculturists in the Middle States as well as in New England 
worked in unison to establish flocks that would yield an adequate 
supply. Capital drawn from the opulent trade with the Old World 
and the Indies was lavishly expended upon factories and their equip- 
ment as well as in the improvement of the country's flocks. 

The somewhat inaccurate census of 1810 stated that the annual 
yield of wool was 13,000,000 pounds. Two years later Tench Coxe, 
the Philadelphia statistician who had compiled the returns of the 
earlier census, estimated the quantity of wool sheared in the United 
States in one year to be 22,000,000 pounds. The proportion of fine 
wool had in the past few years increased marvelously and the work 
of improvement in breeding continued during the following years of 
war. 

STATISTICS OF THE PERIOD. 

xi The census of 1810 also showed the existence of 24 woolen factories 
J / and 1,682 fulling mills. The majority of these were located in New 
England and practically the balance in New York, New Jersey. 
Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Each New England State, with the 
exception of Vermont, at that time had mills employed in the manu- 
facture of army and navy cloths, cloths for the negroes of the South, 

.and blankets. The production o"i broadcloth was confined to half a 

/dozen mills in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and to 
i / Mr. Dupont's enterprise on the Brandywine. In the number and size 

' of new enterprises Connecticut shortly became very prominent, possibly 
on account of its proximity to the wealthy city of New York, having 
in 1810 a population of 96,372, which freely gave capital to the indus- 
try and furnished the readiest market for its products. One of the 
most prominent woolen plants of that period was the Middletown 
Woolen Manufacturing Company, whose chief promoter was Isaac 
Sanford. This mill used only the finest Spanish merino wool and 
produced daily from 30 to 40 yards of broadcloth which sold by the 
piece at from $1 to $10 a yard. This factory was also the first to 
employ steam for its operative power, having one of Oliver Evans's 
24-horsepower engines, which drove all the machinery for carding. 



V 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 

spinning, reeling, weaving, washing, fulling, dyeing, and finishing. 
In 1812 the product of the factory was doubled. Efficient workmen 
were available from among their own apprentices as well as from the 
surrounding towns and farms. 

By the date of the census, 1810, gig mills driven b}^ water or steam 
power, for teasling and napping cloths were erected to some extent 
in New England and New York. In Philadelphia, however, hand 
cards were still exclusively used. A great many patents had been 
granted in the country for shearing cloth by steam or water power, 
some of which at this time were in use. 

IV. 

The manufacture of blankets was greatly expedited by a machine 
invented and patented in 1810 by Elkanah Cobb, a native of Vermont, 
belonging to the United States Army. By the use of this machine a 
dozen blankets were made by a single workman in one day. In the 
same year the Providence Woolen Manufacturing Company began the 
use of a 30-horse power engine built also by Evans; a new factory 
for the manufacture of broadcloths was started in Connecticut by 
Governor Walcott at Walcottville, and another was started at Goshen 
in the same county; E. H. Derby, of Salem, Mass., erected and 
equipped a mill for the manufacture of broadcloth, obtaining his raw 
material from a flock of 1,100 merino sheep imported from Lisbon for 
that purpose. A woolen company was organized at Billingham, Mass., 
with a capital of $400,000. At Pittsfield, Mass., Lewis Pomeroy built 
the first woolen factory of any size in Berkshire County, which was 
not large itself except by comparison, consuming only about 1,200 
pounds of wool in a year for the manufacture of broadcloth. 

In Delaware the new woolen mill of E. I. Dupont was said to be 
producing woolens to the annual value of $150,000 to $200,000. New 
York and Pennsylvania were also making rapid progress in wool 
manufacture, though not to the extent noted in New England, which 
was the home of the industry in its household stage, and has never 
yielded that distinction to supremacy in its later operation. 

EXPANSION OF THE INDUSTRY. 

Despite the rapid expansion of wool manufacturing within the 
United States, which, although stimulated by the exigencies of the 
country while engaged in warfare, progressed, nevertheless, under 
difficulties emanating from the same source ; there shortly came a time 
when the country was of itself unable to supply its soldiers and sailors 
with necessary clothing. Inglorious recourse was then indirectly made 
to the manufactories of England. This was in 1813, and in the in- 
stance to which reference is made, over half a million dollars was 
expended for army cloths and blankets of foreign production. 

During the war broadcloths brought as high as $18 a yard. Fine 
merino wool, which cost the manufacturer, in 1812 and 1813, about 
$1.50 per pound, advanced to $3 and $4, and indigo blue to $4 a pound. 
Charges were frequent of extortionate prices demanded by manufac- 
turers in this period, but in consideration of the enhanced value of 
raw material and the increased cost of labor and equipment, it does 



16 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

not appear that the price of the finished goods was disproportionate 
to the cost of their manufacture. 

The progress of establishing manufactories continued through the 
year of 1814, when the general court of Massachusetts alone granted 
incorporation to 30 companies for the production of cottons, woolens, 
and other articles. Among these was the Bellingham Cotton and 
Woolen Factory on the Charles Eiver, with a capital of $150,000. A 
woolen mill was also built this year by William D. Blush at Middle- 
field, Hampshire County, which was destroyed in 1850 by fire. A 
cotton and woolen factory was established in Plympton, in Plymouth 
County, which in 1814 manufactured 15,000 pounds of wool. This 
same year a large woolen factory 120 by 40 feet and five stories high, 
was built at Lexington, Ky., by James Prentiss & Co., but was not put 
into operation until some years later. 

ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM THE WAR. 

It appears that the industrial progress of the country, in the estab- 
lishment and operation of manufactories of clothing, was exceedingly 
rapid during the naval war. But nevertheless the commercial condi- 
tions were not correspondingly improved. In New England, espe- 
cially, there was a continuous clamor and outcry against the inception 
of hostilities and the conduct of the ensuing war. 

The general commercial distress in New England, the possession by the enemy 
of a large part of Maine, the fear of their advance along the coast, and the 
apparent neglect of the Federal Government to provide any adequate means of 
resistance, led the legislature of Massachusetts, late in 1814, to invite the other 
New England States to send delegates to Hartford, Conn., to confer upon the 
subject of their grievances. 

But notwithstanding the popular sentiment in the East against the 
war of 1812, it materially aided the establishment of the wool-manu- 
facturing industry in the country in a nearly sufficient extent to meet 
the requirements put upon it. Indeed, the conditions of trade and 
commerce incidental upon the existence of warfare with the principal 
manufacturing country of the world, gave the industry in the United 
States a greater impetus and stimulated it to a more extensive scope 
than could have been accomplished in any other conceivable way. 

DESTRUCTION AND PROTECTION. 1815-1816. 

Peace in February, 1815, placed a different aspect upon the manu- 
facturing industries which in a few years had grown to be one of the 
nation's chief sources of income. From the first embargo act in 1808 
these industries had practically held the markets of the country sub- 
servient to their own production. Stimulated by a demand which 
their utmost endeavors could hardly satisfy, they had made wonderful 
and unprecedented development and extension. Millions of dollars, 
diverted from importing, exporting, and carrying trades, had been 
invested in the nascent manufacturing enterprises, and even though 
many ventures had been made by men unskillful and ignorant of the 
intricacies of manufacture, few there were who had not realized on 
their investments or doubled or trebled their first capital. 

During this time England, the greatest manufacturing nation of 
the world, had accumulated enormous quantities of finished goods 
whose outlet was narrowed as much by the turbulent condition of 



/ 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 

affairs in Europe as by their prohibition from entry into American 
markets. During a part of this period the manufacturing interests 
of England had undoubtedly languished, but in the closing years 
of the naval war they had revived, and even before peace had been 
formally consummated immense quantities of goods from British 
factories were seeking entrance into the United States. 

INFLUX OF FOREIGN GOODS. 

American manufacturers and investors recognized to some extent 
the impending destruction of their enterprises, and from certain parts 
of the country petitions for protection against the threatening danger 
reached Congress. Many of the newly incepted industries were yet 
imperfectly established, although carrying the capital which had been 
given to their promotion, while others were yet encumbered with the 
expenses incidental to their earliest operation. 

However, the country as a whole was slow to take alarm, and not 
a few viewed with satisfaction possible revenue from importations to 
offset the country's debt. Legislation for protection was withheld, 
and at once with the establishment of peace the influx of foreign 
goods began. During the first nine months of 1815 the importations 
were valued at more than $83,000,000. Within the following fiscal 
year they amounted to $155,250,000, of which about $70,000,000 were 
in cottons and woolens admitted at the low ad valorem duty of 5 
per cent. 

England's jealousy. 

This enormous increase in imports was not wholly due to a real or 
an assured demand from the United States. British manufacturers 
of all kinds of merchandise, but particularly makers of cloths, had 
viewed with anxiety the rapid development during the period of 
severed intercourse, of American manufactures, and when at last the 
bars to commerce were let down they stood ready to deal the nascent 
American industries a crushing and, if possible, a destroying blow. 
To flood American markets with a great quantity of goods at prices 
so low that domestic manufacturers could not hope to compete, Eng- 
lish merchants early employed a method of distribution which 
received the support of American merchants as well. Large cargoes 
of goods were sent to America on consignment and disposed of at 
public auction. In this way fabulously low prices were accepted for 
the goods which, in the early days of this disastrous flood, American 
merchants resold at enormous profits. In some cases as high as 25 to 
50 per cent of their sales represented clear gains. 

There was at first a ready market for the goods at almost any rea- 
sonable price, but the low cost of clothing soon established by the 
auctions, engaged the interest of many classes of merchants and stimu- 
lated the influx of goods to an almost inconceivable extent. Cargoes 
of goods were bought outright. Banks, freed from the obligation of 
specie payment, advanced money liberally and discounted rashly, 
thereby affording opportunities for the manipulation of the largest 
ventures. Along with the rapid growth of imports there developed 
greater activity in dependant occupations. The carrying trade was 

S. Doc. 70, 61-1 2 



18 THE WOOL TRADE, OF THE UNITED STATES. 

revived, shipbuilding was stimulated, and on shore all occupations 
bearing relation to mercantile transactions and the movement of 
merchandise received unusual stimulus. 

Three-package sales of goods, which were conducted in midsummer 
of 1815 by one merchant amounted to $1,515,174. A single cargo was 
purchased for $300,000, divided into four notes of $75,000 each, all of 
which were discounted in different banks. The notes issued by one 
auctioneer, and those received by him for goods sold, extant at one 
time and discounted at the different banks, amounted to $1,200,000. 

COMMERCE STIMULATED. 

The unusual turn in commerce of all sorts wrought by the ensuance 
of peace was rejoiced at all over the country, and the malcontents of 
the East who had strenuousty opposed the existence and conduct of 
the war received wonderful prestige. It seemed as though a long- 
checked wave of prosperity was about to deluge the country with its 
weight of wealth. All businesses, save those relating to domestic, 
manufacturing industries, revived in the general tide of commercial 
activity and took on new preparations for extending their operations. 

Very soon, however, the commercial activity afforded by the liberal 
distribution of an enormous quantity of goods, far in excess of a 
normal trade, reached its climax and subsided as quickly as it had 
risen. In its retrogression this business carried with its lessening 
volume, falling prices and consequent failure and bankruptcy. 

In viewing the situation of this period, late 1815, conditions pre- 
vailing in the goods industry must not be connected with the general 
commercial conditions of the country. 

Merchants dealing in imported goods and banks had been lured into 
rash and extensive ventures by the extravagant profits secured from 
the first consignments. Presently a plethora of goods in the compara- 
tively narrow American markets threw stocks back upon consignees, 
handlers of goods, and holders of notes, and the stress in this partic- 
ular division of commerce was keen. 

In the meanwhile domestic manufacturers and investors in manu- 
facturing enterprises were seeing dispelled their profits which had 
been won through the difficulties that the establishment of an industry 
can alone produce, and the capital which had been invested as lavishly 
as it had been earlier gained. 



A SETBACK TO THE INDUSTRY. 



The American goods of this time were generally inferior to the 
British cloths which were flooding our markets at much less than the 
domestic cost of production. In a very short time there was prac- 
tically no demand for home manufactured goods, and with the loss of 
their markets American producers were compelled in many instances 
to abandon their enterprises. Factories were closed and the capital 
invested was taken as a practical loss. Others who attempted to stem 
the tide against the flood of foreign goods were soon hopelessly bank- 
rupt. Workmen were thrown out of employment and much com- 
paratively new machinery was forced to become idle. 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 

Thus during the greater^ part of 1815 the wool manufacturing 
industry received a disastrous setback, which was alone offset by the 
indomitable perseverance of a few who were engaged in it. 

Wool growing also felt the destructive foreign competition, and the 
fall in prices of fine blooded sheep and in merino wool was as rapid 
and as great as that experienced in woolen goods. Where merino 
bucks commanded from $250 to $1,500 a head during the war of 1812, 
they now sold for a dollar each, and farmers, discouraged by the 
profitless husbandly of merino sheep, adulterated the strain by cross- 
breeding, and even valuable flocks were slaughtered entire. 

Notwithstanding the disheartening condition of affairs to which the 
recent disastrous course of events had brought the industry, there were 
those identified with it who were determined not to surrender their 
rights to its promotion until absolutely forced to do so. In casting 
about for some resource by which they might successfully cope with 
the invasions of foreign products, they turned, as their only hope, to 
the national government and appealed for its protection. 

Just prior to the close of the war, when peace was assured, indeed, 
in his message to Congress announcing the consummation of peace 
negotiations, President Madison referred indirectly to the impending 
danger to American manufactories and recommended some adjust- 
ment of import duties to preserve them from the disaster which 
probable excessive importations threatened. 

v. 

In general reference to the commerce of the country President 
Madison declared that there were " important considerations which 
forbade a sudden and general revocation of the measures that had been 
produced b}^ the war; " and in particular reference to the country's 
manufacturing interests said that " there is no subject that can enter 
with greater force and merit into the deliberations of Congress than 
the consideration of the means to preserve and promote the manu- 
factures which sprung into existence and attained an unparalleled 
maturity throughout the United States during the period of the 
European wars." 

The measures which led to the war of 1812 and the war itself was 
equivalent to an extreme protective or prohibitive tariff and knowing 
what assistance similar legislation could render them the manufac- 
turers of the country sent petitions to Congress when they saw the 
ruin of their industry encompassed by English products. 

MANUFACTURERS' PETITION FOR PROTECTION. 

On February 13, 1816, the Committee of Commerce and Manufac- 
tures in the House received a memorial petition from the manufac- 
turers of cotton wool which stated at length the condition of the 
industry, its rise, the amount of capital invested in its operation, the 
number of laborers employed, the extent of its products, and finally 
the conditions wrought by the facile entrance into American markets 
given foreign goods. 

Being assured of the Executive's sympathy with the question and 
having been awakened by the exigencies of the war to the necessity 



20 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

for some such action as was appealed for, the committee gave the 
subject careful and studious consideration. Shortly afterwards it 
submitted to the House a most intelligent argument for protection. 

The men who were connected with the preparation of this report 
had witnessed the slow and laborious development of the manufac- 
turing industry in the first years of its inception in this country, had 
themselves experienced want when the undeveloped industry was 
unable to supply the country dependent upon it alone, had seen it 
spring up under this same stimulus and had later seen the destruc- 
tion wrought by throwing open the ports of the country to foreign 
merchandise. The report itself is intelligible and convincing. Its 
arguments are sober, thoughtful, and conclusive, applicable in a 
lesser or greater degree to any condition of American commerce 
from that day to this. 

It is true that it had opponents then as there are to-day enemies 
of the same national economic policy, but those who are now desirous 
of abolishing entirely tariff for protection would do well to study the 
report of the Committee of Commerce and Manufacturers of Feb- 
ruary, 1816. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 

The report in its most important parts is as follows: 

Our wants being supplied by our own ingenuity and industry, exportation 
of specie to pay for foreign manufactures will cease. Tbe value of American 
produce at this time exported (1816) will not enable the importers to pay 
for the foreign manufactures imported. Whenever the two accounts shall be 
fairly stated the balance against the United States will be found to be many 
millions of dollars. In proportion as the commerce of the United States 
depends upon agriculture and manufactures as a common basis will it increase 
and become independent of the fluctuations which the ambition or jealousy 
of foreign Governments are too apt to produce. Our navigation will be quick- 
ened, and, supported as it will be by internal resources never before at the 
command of a nation, will advance to the extent of those resources. New 
channels of trade and enterprise, no less important than productive, are open- 
ing, which can be secured only by a wise and prudent policy appreciating 
their advantages. If want of foresight should neglect the cultivation and im- 
provement of them, the opportune moment may be lost, perhaps for centuries, 
and the energies of this nation be thereby prevented from developing them- 
selves, and from making the boon proffered our own. By trading on our own 
capital collisions with other nations, if they be not entirely done away with, 
will be greatly diminished. 

The expenditures of the last war were greatly increased by a dependence on 
our foreign supplies. The prices incident to such a dependence will always 
be high. Had not our nascent manufacturing establishments increased the 
quantity of commodities at that time in demand the expenditures would have 
been much greater and consequences the most fatal and disastrous would 
have been the fate of this nation. * * * 

The American manufacturers expect to meet with all the embarrassments 
which a jealous and monopolizing power can suggest. Foreign manufacturers 
and merchants will put into requisition all the powers of ingenuity ; will prac- 
tice whatever art can devise and capital can accomplish to prevent the American 
manufacturing establishments from striking root and flourishing in their rich 
and native soil. * * * 

Competition will make prices of articles low and the extension of the manu- 
factures will produce that competition. 

The committee considers the situation of the manufacturing establishments 
(those of cotton wool) to be perilous. Some have decreased and others have 
suspended business. A liberal encouragement will put them again into opera- 
tion with increased powers, but should it be withheld they will be prostrated. 
A capital of nearly sixty millions of dollars will become inactive, the greater 
part of which will be a dead loss to the manufacturers. 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 

The committee concluded its report with a recommendation of 
increased duties on such articles as the petitioners were concerned 
in manufacturing. 

This appeal by the cotton wool manufacturers was shortly after- 
wards followed by a memorial from the makers of woolen cloths, 
who presented a petition similar in character to that which preceded. 

NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF MANUFACTURES. 

About this time Secretary of the Treasury A. J. Dallas presented 
to Congress a provisional tariff law in accordance with instructions 
given after .the reading of the President's message in February of 
1815. 

In his report Mr. Dallas divided the manufactures of the country 
into three general classes for the purpose of facile and judicious 
legislation. The principles of protection were embodied in this paper 
and there was shown the necessity for varying rates of taxation upon 
goods in correspondence with the stage of development of manufac- 
turing similar articles in this country. 

Thus, in the first general class were included manufactures which 
were firmly and permanently established and which wholly or almost 
wholly supplied the demand for domestic use and consumption. The 
second class comprised manufactures which had been recently or 
partly established, did not at that time satisfy the demand for domes- 
tic use, but which with proper cultivation would be capable of being 
matured to the whole extent of the demand. In the third division 
were placed the manufactures which were so slightly cultivated as 
to leave the country wholly or nearly dependent upon foreign sources 
for a supply. 

The progress of wool manufacture was well illustrated by the class 
for tariff discrimination, which embraced the several divisions of 
the industry. In the first class of permanently established plants 
sufficient of themselves to supply the domestic wants were placed 
hats of wool and fur. In the second division, embracing such articles 
whose manufacture in this country demanded " proper cultivation " 
were included woolen goods of the coarser kind generally and some 
of the finer kinds ; and in the third class of undeveloped manufactures 
were included woolen goods of many descriptions, worsted goods of 
all kinds, blankets, carpets and carpetings, hosiery of all kinds, 
including knit or woven gloves. 

TARIFF DISCRIMINATION. 

Concerning the rates of duty, a tariff might be so imposed on the 
goods of the first class which would amount to prohibition of entry 
without endangering a scarcity in the supply. On the second class 
of goods it was deemed that the duty should be protective without 
being absolutely prohibitive. Yet protection was of the first and 
most vital importance, as the domestic manufactures would increase 
in proportion to the extent of the demand for products from the one 
source. " The inconveniences of the day," wrote Mr. Dallas, " will 
be amply compensated by future advantages. The agriculturist 
whose produce and flocks depend for their value upon the fluctua- 
tions of a foreign market will have no occasion eventually to regret 



22 THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the opportunity of a ready sale for his wool or his cotton in his own 
neighborhood." 

The third class of manufactures was judged by Mr. Dallas not to 
require attention at that time further than to adjust the rate of duty 
to the amount of revenue it was necessary to draw from them. 

The difficulty of recognizing stable lines of cotton or woolen goods 
rendered it necessary for convenience and to prevent fraud and con- 
fusion, to make them all subject to a common duty. 

Woolen goods had been theretofore subject to a duty of only 12 J 
per cent. It was proposed to raise this rate to 28 per cent ad valorem, 
an advance of 124 per cent. 

OPPOSITION TO THE TARIFF. 

Notwithstanding the support which the proposed tariff for protec- 
tion received, it met also with considerable opposition in parts of 
New England, and particularly in the Southern States. The mer- 
chants of Boston, which was eminently a commercial city, especially 
in the sense of having an extensive trade with foreign countries, had 
then no connection whatever with the wool manufacturing industry 
of this country and opposed the principles of high protection for fear 
of destruction of their principal source of wealth. 

The South was an agricultural section and even feared that a high 
duty would support only the northern manufacturers at their own 
greater expense. 

Thus when the tariff of 1816 became a law it had been modified 
from Mr. Dallas' provisional tabulation, and for the sake of a par- 
ticular instance, on woolen goods was placed in lieu of a 28 per cent 
duty, only a tariff of 25 per cent ad valorem to hold good for 3 years, 
after which a duty of 20 per cent was to have been levied. 

The original draft of the tariff of 1816 stipulated that a duty of 
15 per cent ad valorem should be levied upon all importations of 
wool. On March 28 this was modified to a 7J per cent duty in the 
House of Representatives on motion of Mr. Ingham of Pennsylvania. 
However, wool was subject to a duty of 15 per cent under the clause 
covering unenumerated articles. 

THE STRUGGLE FOR ADEQUATE PROTECTION. 1816-1824. 

The tariff of 1816, despite the advance in a protective policy which 
it reflected, was on the whole inadequate to the needs of the manu- 
facturers of wool. It could not at least repair the damage already 
inflicted upon the industry by the excessive importations following 
the Avar and was a constant subject of discussion and legislation for 
the next eight years. 

Immediately following the peace of 1815, and even to the close 
of 1819, the manufacture of woolen cloths in the United States strug- 
gled for bare existence. These years were replete with failures, yet 
the industry made a distinct and important advance. Through suc- 
cessive losses and bankruptcy it was being evolved from its iirsi crude 
character, practically household manufacture on a larger and more 
comprehensive scale, to a more truly modern plane and scope. 

A plentiful supply of goods had immediately after the war brought 
prices to a low level and even at inconsiderable cost there was a lim- 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 

ited market for American products until after the foreign stock had 
been well assimilated. During this same period which witnessed 
such stress and severity of competition in manufactures, the general 
commercial conditions of the country were exactly the reverse. The 
majority of the people had not forgotten the prosperity adduced 
from a foreign trade, which the war of 1812 and its causes had inter- 
rupted. With a natural condition of affairs the world over the 
country might have progressed beyond the conditions of commerce 
experienced prior to 1808, but successive short harvests abroad now 
centered the demand of Europe upon the food products of America 
and shortly after the consummation of peace with England the old 
trade was revived in all its former extent and volume. 

Agricultural products rapidly enhanced in value as the foreign 
purchases continued, bringing higher prices in domestic markets as 
well as in foreign. The carrying trade stimulated first by the 
extensive importation of goods in 1815 and 1816 revived and attained 
broader proportions. 

At home a false currency system placed negotiable but irre- 
deemable money in free circulation and prices rose easily to almost 
extravagant figures. The agriculturists were again of greater im- 
portance and although in early 1816 the manufacturers were consid- 
ered by Jefferson to deserve equal recognition in the industrial scale 
of the country, the latter were for the time at least relegated to their 
former position. 

In the latter part of 1818 the currency system was undermined, 
precipitating a financial panic. Scenes incident to the reaction in 
the goods markets when they became surfeited with foreign stocks 
were repeated, the difference now being that failures and bankruptcy 
were not confined to a single trade. 

VI. 

In this year (1819) of panic and of commercial and financial stress 
the great foreign trade in raw products built up by the recent exigen- 
cies of Europe decreased in volume as European products attained 
their customary normal extent and were equal to the yearly demand 
put upon them. 

The overthrow of inflated values and the ruin to much business 
consequent upon their rise destroyed confidence in customary enter- 
prises. The manufacturing industry having but little to lose in the 
value of its products, stood out conspicuous^ by its comparative 
stability among the common fall and failure. 

By this time, moreover, the supply of foreign goods were well 
distributed and exhausted and articles of wear attained greater im- 
portance as marketable commodities. The proposed cessation of the 
25 per cent ad valorem duty and the substitution therefor of a 20 
per cent tariff, have taken place in 1819, had been forestalled by legis^ 
lation in- 1818, and the old duty remained in force for some years 
longer. 

Cotton manufacturing had made wonderful strides through the \ 
introduction of the power loom, and the manufacture of wool had 
been adA^anced by the same means. The old arguments which had 
given greater prestige industrially to manufactures were revived, and 
with the restoration of a more stable and sound money system capital 



24 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

was again invested liberally in such enterprises. The importance of 
domestic production of fine wool and the making and handling of 
American goods was also enhanced. 

The disastrous results in national finance and commerce caused 
naturally by the excessive exportations of specie over the importa- 
tions, proved conclusively the desirability and even the necessity for 
the people to trade upon their own capital. Manufacturers alive to 
their own necessities petitioned Congress repeatedly for higher duties 
on their products and more complete protection to foster an industry 
which should bring about this result. In the first session of the 
sixteenth Congress, 1819-20, a protective tariff Avas passed by the 
House, but met defeat in the Senate. 

census or 1820. 

The census returns of 1820 fixed the population of the United 
States at 9,638,131. Of this number 2,075,363 were engaged in agri- 
culture, 349,663 in the various manufactures, and 72,558 in commerce, 
including country shopkeepers. The total capital invested in manu- 
factures amounted to $46,837,266. In the memorial presented to 
Congress in 1816 by the woolen manufacturers of the country it was 
shown that in this industry alone there was invested $12,000,000, 
that there were employed 100,000 hands, producing goods valued 
annually at $19,000,000. The value of dutiable goods manufactured 
in the country in 1820 was $32,271,984. On account of adverse con- 
ditions the wool industry had for some time made little or no increase 
in the amount of capital invested and in the extent of its products. 
It had nevertheless made internal developments of importance. Of 
these, one was the first spinning jenny of power propulsion used in 
the United States, which was introduced in 1819 in the Peace Dale 
mill of Rowland Hazard. Particularly in New England new enter- 
prises were inaugurated with liberal capitalization and such " mod- 
ern " equipment as could be obtained. Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts were making comparatively rapid strides in the establishment 
of new factories, although even in these States it was not uncommon 
to see at the same time idle machinery and neglected mills, the 
result, perhaps, of attempts to pursue an unlearned occupation, but 
certainly the extreme examples of the season's distress and failure. 

During the war of 1812 American manufactures had found no 
difficulty in securing a ready market for their goods, but subsequently 
their outlet was narrowed and in place of being sent to a distance 
the products sought sale first in the immediate neighborhood of their 
production. 

BOSTON A MARKET FOR DOMESTIC GOODS. 

Boston had been a commercial city in the full meaning of the 
word in the early century. Its merchants included extensive han- 
dlers of foreign merchandise, comprising among other commodities 
woolen goods from British and European factories. 

The exaggerated profits of the commission business in L815-16 and 
even a little later had encouraged many to engage in that trade but 
with the plethora of goods presently experienced and the imposition 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 25 

of the tariff not a few found their business destroyed. During these 
years the manufacturers of New England now and then sent some 
of their products to Boston, often to be peddled in the streets,, but 
when their sale was slow and difficult it become desirable to have 
them held over in such a market as Boston afforded until buyers 
could be found to take them up. 

Thus before long a few merchants were encouraged to engage in 
the handling of goods from American factories, undertaking that 
was no doubt looked upon with condescension by the importers and 
sellers of foreign fabrics. 

As early as 1821 James Vila and George Smith had a warehouse 
at 64 State street for the storage and sale of American goods, and 
in the spring of the same year Joshua Clapp opened a store on Corn- 
hill for the sale of such goods on commission. With these and sim- 
ilar attempts Boston early secured the distinction of the chief market 
for domestic cloths. 

The two or three years immediately succeeding the panic of 1819 
were quite advantageous to the development of wool manufacturing, 
although they were filled with peril for those who were not well 
acquainted with the industry and skilled in the operation of the 
factories. 

At that time our factories were a full quarter of a century behind 
the English mills, but with the recent introduction of the power loom 
great progress had been made and. manufacturers were soon enabled 
to place a better class of goods upon the market in much larger 
quantity, and, moreover, with considerable saving in cost of pro- 
duction. Through the lessened value of agricultural products and 
cost of labor and rents makers of goods secured some advantage. 
While domestic fabrics brought no higher prices than heretofore, 
they were now being made much more cheaply and more expedi- 
tiously, and very soon the industry attracted increased attention by 
the profits which, under careful and intelligent management, it uni- 
formly yielded. 

In i8*21 the Wolcott Woolen Company, first established in 1814, 
was incorporated at Southbridge, Mass., with a capital of $144,000, 
for the manufacture of broadcloths and cassimeres. It employed 32 
looms, which with its other machinery were valued at $40,000. 

In the latter part of 1823 New York State had 62 factories for 
making cotton and woolen goods, 16 mills for the manufacture of 
woolen goods alone, and 12 for making cotton, woolen, and linen 
cloths. Oneida county had a woolen mill which consumed annu- 
ally 80.000 pounds of wool, and a cotton and woolen mill em- 
ploying 700 spindles and 12 power looms. New Hampshire con- 
tained 18 woolen factories. Connecticut in 1816 had 25 woolen man- 
ufacturing establishments, employing 1,200 hands, and producing 
annually 100,000 yards of cloths', and the number of mills was now 
increased in that State and the remainder of New England. 

The industry was, however, struggling under difficulties which had 
attended the enterprise almost uninterruptedly since its inception 
in this country. The chief of these were an inadequate supply of 
suitable wool and the competition of foreign goods. 



26 THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

OBSTACLES TO RAPID DEVELOPMENT. 

With the first influx of British cloths after the peace of 1815, 
and the consequent destruction to many American enterprises, the 
value of merino sheep in this country rapidly deteriorated. Fine 
blooded sheep were slaughtered extensively or disposed of at merely 
nominal prices, while there was no apparent reason for preserving 
the strain from crossbreeding. Of course the reaction set in before 
long and the desire to substitute Spanish merinos for the domestic 
sheep was just as strong as it had been before and during the war 
of 1812. 

Despite the duty of 25 per cent ad valorem levied upon woolen 
goods of certain kinds, the importations of foreign cloths continued 
in very large quantities up to 1818. In 1820 and 1821 there was 
very little diminution in the volume of foreign goods flooding our 
markets, and American manufacturers began to make formal pro- 
tests and petitions to the Government for fuller protection. In the 
two latter years the imports of woolen goods alone were valued at 
$19,000,000, and the cloths after paying a 25-cent duty outsold the 
domestic products easily. American manufacturers, notwithstanding 
the impetus lately received, were again being hard pressed by their 
foreign competitors, and the fight for protection became imbued with 
the spirit of vital necessity. 

The most eminent statesmen of the day were enrolled in the ranks 
of protectionists. Madison had practically framed the first tariff 
in 1789, and in 1815 had substantially inaugurated the movement 
culminating in the protective tariff of a year later. Jefferson had 
witnessed the exigencies of the domestic manufactures of cotton and 
wool, had recognized and appreciated their increased importance in 
the industrial strength of the United States, and had considered them 
on an equality with the fundamental class of the country, the agri- 
culturists. He had listened to their appeal for protection, had seen 
its vital importance to their pursuance of the industry, and had 
thrown the weight of his personality on their side. Clay was an 
earnest exponent of the protectionist's cause ; Calhoun was its ardent 
advocate; Monroe, imbued with its doctrines, gave to the policy 
greater strength, scope, and national significance; and even dignified 
Daniel Webster, at first on the side of free trade, was easily won 
to its support when he had fully examined its principles. 

PETITIONS FOR PROTECTION. 

On January 19, 1824, the " manufacturers, mechanics, and friends 
of national industry, citizens of Connecticut, ?, addressed a petition 
to Congress seeking protection for their struggling enterprises. The 
planters of the South were inexorably opposed to a revision of the 
tariff to the advantage of the manufacturers, since they feared the 
hitter's gain would be entirely at their expense. The memorial from 
the citizens of Connecticut referred to this opposition and noted 
that the Southern planter himself was already protected by a duty 
on tobacco and sugar equal to 50 to 100 per cent. It was further 
argued that by supplying home markets with domestic fabrics the 
demand for foreign cloths would be diminished and therewith the 
country's vast indebtedness. 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 

Cotton was then the great remittance to liquidate the enormous 
debt clue from citizens of the United States to Great Britain. Pre- 
viously there was an inability to supply the demand for cloth by 
domestic manufacture, but at the time of the petition home manu- 
factories were able to furnish every article of clothing, fine linen 
and silk excepted. Furthermore, Great Britain was selling us manu- 
factures to the amount of $-10,000,000 annually, and to stimulate the 
exportation of wool the cabinet of St. James was contemplating a 
drawback of 12 per cent. 

On the date of the above petition, January 19, 1824, an assemblage 
at Albany of the citizens of New York, including delegates from 
most of the counties, petitioned Congress for an increased duty on 
woolen and cotton goods. Their memorial was even more con- 
vincing than that from the citizens of Connecticut, and undoubtedly 
its influence upon the subsequent enactment of a protective tariff 
was material. It asserted that the experiment of a protective tariff 
had proven eminently successful. During the late war (that of 1812) 
many extensive woolen factories were erected, much capital was 
invested, and our country was relieved in a degree b}^ their products 
during that period from great distress and suffering for want of 
clothing which would have existed without their aid. At the close of 
the war the importations of foreign woolens were so excessive as 
seriously to injure the importers and to prostrate almost all the 
woolen manufacturers of the country. In conseuence of the demand 
for the raw material created by the flourishing condition of our 
manufactories during the war, many citizens were induced to expend 
large sums in the introduction of merino sheep, whose numbers had 
increased so as to constitute a considerable item in the wealth of our 
agriculturists. 

The destruction of our domestic woolen manufactures depressed 
so essentially the value of wool and the animal producing it, that in 
1816 their numbers were greatly diminished. For some time after 
1816 even the limited quantity of fine wool produced from our flocks 
was principally exported to Great Britain, but the prices of woolen 
goods having again risen in the market, other individuals were in- 
duced to purchase the establishments erected during the war and put 
them into successful operation. 

Their success induced still others to venture and many more val- 
uable establishments were erected, much machinery procured, and 
many individuals employed in them. In the year 1821 the consump- 
tion having equalled the product of the raw material a quantity of 
-wool was imported. This fact of public notoriety changed the whole 
aspect of the trade. Prior to that our merchants imported, on their 
own account and at merely a fair mercantile profit, goods equal to the 
wants of the country. 

VII. 

Since that period (1821) our markets have been overstocked with 
British woolen goods, which have been sold on account of the manu- 
facturer or British merchant at auction and at prices less than their 
actual cost, the continuance of which even for a short time must 
mean the ruin and destruction of the Avoolen manufacturers of the 
country. 






28 THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

These arguments were opposed by the planters of the South. In- 
deed, the citizens of Petersburg, Va., protested in a formal memorial 
to Congress, February 13, 1824, against the alteration cf the tariff 
designed to raise the duty upon importations of woolen goods. 
This petition cited that the country was then exporting 600,000 bales 
of cotton annually and the Southerners feared that " this and other 
agricultural industries would be destroyed for the emolument of the 
few." They asserted that an increase in the tariff on imports would 
be " equal to taxing the States south of the Potomac annually 
$6,000,000, to be distributed among the other cities north of that 
river, and to the merchants universally paying 10 per cent on their 
capital for the same purpose." 

On May 22, 1824, a tariff law was enacted by which the duty on 
manufactures of wool was advanced from 25 per cent ad valorem to 
30 per cent, to hold until June 1, 1825, after which it was to be 33^ 
per cent ad valorem; reckoning the minimum price of 80 cents per 
square yard on all cloths except blankets, flannels, baizes, and un- 
milled worsteds or stiff goods and on these except blankets and car- 
pets a minimum price of 40 cents per square yard. 

By the tariff of 1824 raw wool was dutiable as follows : Value not 
exceeding 10 cents per pound, 15 per cent ad valorem; value exceed- 
ing 10 cents per pound, 20 per cent ad valorem until June 1. 1825, 
then 25 per cent until June 1, 1826, afterwards 30 per cent ad valorem. 

PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION DEFEATED BY ENGLAND. 1824-1827. 

With the promise of adequate protection under the tariff of 1824 
wool manufacturing took a fresh start. More money was invested 
in factories, mills were extensively capitalized and expensively 
equipped, while the demand for wool increased proportionately. 
Prior to 1825 manufacturers were accustomed to obtain their ^Yool in 
the country directly from the growers, paying cash for it or else 
guaranteeing the farmers a proportionate share of the proceeds from 
the manufactured cloths. This method answered A^ery well when the 
manufacturer's demands for twelve months' consumption were of 
such moderate extent that the wool could be easily handled and the 
farmers' separate accounts readily followed. 

Each year, however, the mills were winning the industry more 
completely from the households, and their capacity and output were 
enlarging. When profits became meager on single sales their opera- 
tions were extended and presently the volume of business transacted 
in the raw and manufactured wool compelled the usage of other 
methods than the simple ones first in vogue. 

Under the obligation of paying cash for the comparatively large 
quantities of necessary raw wool, manufacturers soon sought loans 
from their own selling agents or other goods commission merchants in 
the larger cities, giving as indemnity, mortgages on their factories or 
their parts. Thus selling agents and commission men became in- 
volved in manufacturing enterprises. Having supplied the capital 
for the purchase of the raw material, they became partners in its 
manufacture until they were able to regain their money from the 
sale of the goods. 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



29 



BIRTH OF THE WOOL TRADE. 

It was but a step from the goods merchants supplying capital to 
enable manufacturers to buy wool, to their receiving the wool 
at clip time in their own warehouses and retaining it until sold to 
the manufacturer, accepting for payment notes on mill property as 
before. But it was not long before goods merchants bought the wool 
themselves, taking some profit, in addition to the interest upon their 
money invested, when the wool was turned over to the factories. 

From Massachusetts' prominence as a manufacturing State, Boston 
early attained distinction as the chief market of the country for 
domestic made goods. Besides that Boston numbered among its 
merchants some of the most prominent sellers of foreign goods of 
the day. These latter sold almost, if not entirely, on commission, and 
their extensive operations gave Boston its first importance as a dis- 
tributing market for clothing. 

The identification of the commission trade with the interests of 
manufacturers, first accomplished through the aid given the latter 
in their purchases of raw material, very early became a closer rela- 
tionship than was perhaps anticipated. In instances of irredeemable 
losses on their season's goods, manufacturers were not infrequently 
obliged to forfeit their mills in toto to the merchants who held their 
notes. Thus commission merchants were perforce made manufac- 
turers, and when they were successful in their newest venture and 
were able to retain their former business, they allied the two inter- 
ests under one direction. Boston merchants were in turn goods com- 
mission sellers, consignees of wool and manufactures, and in their 
experience of the three businesses was the genesis of a new industry, 
combining the operation of formerly distinct trades. 

GENESIS OF THE LOCAL TRADE. 



Boston's first connection with these trades was through the com- 
mission houses. In addition to a number of prominent firms dealing 
exclusively in the foreign goods there were, in 1824, several sellers of 
American goods as well. Among these were James and Joseph Vil^ 
George Smith, Joshua Clapp, and Lewis Tappan & Co., who w^ re 
the selling agents for the famous Wolcott Woolen Manufacturing 
Company. Daniel Denny, who was this year associated with his 
brother George in the handling of woolen goods, had commenced 
business in his own name in 1817 at 9 Cornhill. In 1818 B/eck Park- 
man was associated with him as partner, continuing in the firm of 
Daniel Denny & Co. until 1823. 

In 1825 Isaac Livermore became a dealer in American goods at 10 
Water street, and in the following year took James C. Dunn into 
partnership. In 1826 Joseph Vila was associated with John Phillips 
and Charles G. Revnolds in the sale of domestic goods, in the store 
of James Vila at 80 Water street. Two years- afterwards James Vila 
conducted a wool warehouse at 1 Bath street, near Hancock. 

As a distinct business this was probably the first appearance of 
wool selling. The trade had been first brought to Boston by the 
goods selling agents who had loaned their money to the manufac- 
turers, and Boston had become a market for the distribution of woo] 



30 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

because the commission men were located there in strength, and be- 
cause of the many nearby manufactories. When once it had become 
established in that city its rise and expansion were effected through 
the stability there of the interests and trades coincidental with its 
operation. 

VIII. 

In 1829 it can be found that few changes had been made in the 
local wool trade. In the following year there were several new- 
comers. James C. Dunn had retired from the firm of Livermore & 
Dunn and Hugh R. Kendall had taken his place. Kendall had for a 
number of years conducted a bakery at 9 Water street, close to the 
place where Isaac Livermore first began the sale of American goods. 

In all probability an acquaintance and friendship had sprung up 
between the two men during this year of 1827. Livermore had re- 
moved to 23 Kilby street when James C. Dunn had become associated 
with him. He then went to 22 Central street, and in 1828 to 27 Kilby 
street. To this latter store Kendall came in 1830, and the new firm 
at once engaged in conducting a wool-selling business. James Vila 
had now added a commission business in indigo to his wool interests, 
while Joseph Vila embarked the same year in the wool-selling enter- 
prise. 

In 1830 the prominent auctioneering house of Whitewell, Bond & 
Co. had been in existence for a number of years. This firm comprised 
Samuel Whitewell, jr., George Bond, and George William Bond, son 
of George Bond, and Benjamin Seaver. George William Bond, a 

a George William Bond was for nearly half a century the most prominent 
figure in the wool industry. He combined a knowledge of the methods of man- 
ufacturing wool with an almost perfect comprehension of its innumerable 
characteristics, and was not only a leader in the wool trade but was univer- 
sally recognized as the one man in this country at least who had thoroughly 
mastered all the technicalities of his business. Mr. Bond was prominently 
associated with the National Association of Wool Manufacturers from its very 
inception, when at its first meeting, in 1865, he was made chairman of the com- 
mittee on raw materials. He retained this position until 1800, when he Mas 
appointed chairman of the committee on statistics, which office he held until 
1889. Mr. Bond formulated the classification of wools for the purpose of assess- 
ing tariff duties in the act of 1S67, and his schedule has been foand so compre- 
hensive and accurate that it has not since been altered. He also prepared the 
standard samples of wool to meet his classification. In 1874 Harvard Univer- 
sity conferred upon Mr. Bond the honorary degree of A. M.. " in recognition of 
his public spirit and of his thorough knowledge of the important industries of 
wool growing and wool manufacturing." 

Mr. Bond early recognized the necessity in his business for some reliable 
statistical information of the daily transactions in the wool trade, which led to 
the publication of his annual wool circular. The first issue appeared about 
1857, and marked the beginning of such statistical reviews for the trade in the 
United States. The Inst circular issued by the house expressed its indebtedness 
to the Commercial Bulletin as the first statistical authority. In 1880 Mr. Bond 
was appointed to take the federal census of the wool industry, and for the first 
time the United States census contained a statistical presentation of the indus- 
try worthy of its i moon a nee. 

Many since Mr. Bond's day Have made of the wool industry a more profitable 
business than be succeeded in doing, but no other man has given to the industry 
so much unselfish and painstaking labor, resulting in its rapid and full devel- 
opment to a plane Where all who are engaged in it or are dependent upon it 
may enjoy equally its fuller and more beneficent advantages. Mr. Bond un- 
consciously won for himself tbe name of the Nestor ol the wool trade. 

George William Bond was born in Boston. June 22. 1X11. and was educated 
first in the Boston Latin School and afterwards at the school in Koundhill, 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



31 



of importance in the wool trade later, had entered the employ of 
David Denny & Co. in 1827. 

During this period of six years, 1821 to 1830, within which time 
wool selling* had been developed into a distinct trade, wool manufac- 
ture had pursued a very irregular existence. 

DIVISION OF THE TARIFF. 

The foremost and most important advocates of a protective tariff 
at this time were the wool manufacturers. They were seconded by 
manufacturers of iron, cotton, etc., and by those among the agri- 
culturists who devoted considerable of their labor and capital to 
wool growing. 

The opponents of a highly protective rate of import duties were 
first and foremost the growers of cotton in the South. They were 
supported by the large number of the agriculturists in the North and 
East who were not concerned with sheep raising, and by the import- 
ing and commission merchants of the large seaports who dealt ex- 
tensively in English and other foreign merchandise. With these 
two parties were arrayed the rest of the citizens and legislators of the 
country, according to their sympathies or interests. 

The protective party had with difficulty succeeded in securing the 
enactment of even a partially protective tariff in 1816, even though 
the executive himself inaugurated the policy. During the following 
eight years the struggle between the contending parties was bitter, 
and notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the manufacturers and 
their copartisans, the advocates of a duty for revenue only had 
notably the advantage. Indeed, several proposed tariff changes de- 
signed to afford domestic manufacturers more complete protection 
had met defeat within these eight years, and the only success 
achieved by the protectionists during this period was the passage of 
a bill continuing the tariff of 1816 without the reduction contem- 
plated. 

IMMEDIATE EFFECT OF THE TARIFF. 



By 1824 the loose constructionists were in a majority in Congress, 
and after a debate of more than two months there was passed the 
protective tariff of 1821. On the issue of this measure hung extensive 
interests. New England, already the acknowledged home of the wool 
manufacturing industry, was, perhaps, most deeply concerned in the 
outcome, and when the news reached the East that the tariff had 
actually passed Congress and had become a law it was felt that a new 
era of prosperity had come upon the land. 

Northampton, kept by Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell and George Bancroft. In 1827 
he entered the store of Daniel Denny & Co., dry-goods jobbers, and in 1832 was 
admitted to partnership in his father's house, Whitwell, Bond «fc Co. In 1838 
George Bond started business with his two sons, George William and Charles 
R. Bond. George Bond died in 1842. The firm, known as George William & 
Charles R. Bond, became in 1845 Bond, Wymau & Arklay. In 1848 George 
William Bond started a brokerage business alone, and in 1867 associated with 
him as partners his son, William S. Bond, and I. Lewis Brackett. Mr. Bond 
died in 1892, and the house which he had founded was dissolved soon after- 
wards. 



32 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Factories were multiplied and many investments hardly warrant- 
able were made. The industry received a magnificent start and ex- 
panded rapidly. The most modern machinery was bought and set in 
operation on an extensive scale, and the output of the mills increased 
remarkably. 

A check to this impetus, however, came very shortly. England 
had not, nor — indeed, has she since — abandoned her interest in the 
American market for her manufactures, and at once modified her 
imposts to enable her manufacturers to undersell American makers in 
their own markets. England reduced her rate of import duty upon 
wool from 6 pence per pound to a penny and even a half penny per 
pound. English manufacturers were, moreover, willing to experience 
a loss upon their first consignment of goods, provided that they might 
again force their American competitors to the wall, as they had done 
in 1815 and through several successive years. 

In 1825 there were imported into the United States cloths, cassi- 
meres, flannels, baizes, blankets, hosiery, worsted-stuff goods, and 
other manufactures of wool, including carpetings, to the value of 
$11,392,264. In 1826 the value of similar importations had fallen off 
to $8,531,974, but the desired effect had been accomplished and Ameri- 
can manufacturers were again suffering from an overwhelming for- 
eign competition. 

APPEAL FOR RELIEF. 

By 1827 the manufacturing and agricultural classes, who looked 
upon protection as the only means by which they might establish 
their business upon a profitable basis, were convinced that the so- 
called high tariff of 1824 was inadequate to the needs put upon it. 
Protests and appeals for greater protection found expression all over 
the country. Levi Lincoln, governor of the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts, in his message to the state legislature on January 3, 1827, 
said : 

Its (Massachusetts) foreign commerce lias sensibly diminished and the 
deficiency is to be supplied by a greater extent of domestic trade, sustained by 
the products of agriculture and manufactures. The former of these interests 
may be greatly promoted by facilitating the means of transportation, while the 
latter is to be sustained only by just measure of protection from ruinous compe- 
tition with the insidious exportation of the calculating or the forced sacrifices 
of the starving manufacturers of Europe. With the wisdom of ('engross it rests 
to decide upon the earnest appeal of a numerous class of our fellow-citizens 
against the injustices they suffer from the influx of foreign fabrics. 

This portion of Governor Lincoln's message was referred to a 
special committee in the house of representatives (state legislature) 
to look into the condition of the industry. The report returned to 
the house on January 26, 1827, stated that the wool manufactories 
held a large amount of invested capital besides affording employment 
and support for thousands of citizens. It was believed that the 
industry was of national importance and that a further amount of 
capital would find investment in its operation if the manufacturers 
could obtain relief from their embarrassment. Such relief should 
afford adequate protection from the " ruinous competition of an over- 
grown foreign manufacturing interest." Under the direction of this 
committee a resolution was addressed to the National Congress ex- 
pressing the solicitation of the state legislature for the condition of 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 

the manufacturing industry and suggesting that Congress should 
devise and adopt such measures as would relieve it in its depression. 

BILL FOR A HIGHER TARIFF. 

At this time a new tariff schedule had passed the House of Repre- 
sentatives and was placed before the Senate for their consideration 
and action. The bill as it came from the House assuredly provided 
for ample protection that must in several instances have amounted 
to absolute prohibition. The country by this time was fairly " pro- 
tection mad." The preceding national election had been upon this 
issue, and, strangely enough, both candidates for the Presidency, 
Adams and Jackson, were believed to be warm espousers of a high 
protective system of imposts. The advantage derived from giving 
assistance to domestic industries by laying high duties upon competi- 
tive foreign products had been witnessed and enjoyed by the whole 
country, and manufacturers had flourished so marvellously under the 
most perfect practice of the policy that they were ready to ruin their 
own cause by their haste and lack of caution. 

WOLCOTT WOOLEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY. 

On January 26, 1827, while the new tariff bill was before the Sen- 
ate, a letter was sent to Daniel Webster by the clerk of one of the 
foremost wool manufacturing establishments of the country, stating 
the condition into which it had been brought and urging the Senator's 
efforts in behalf of the proposed bill. This was the famous Wolcott 
Woolen Manufacturing Company, having factories in Southbridge 
and Woodstock, Mass. The conditions set forth in this letter may 
be taken as a criterion of the industry's status throughout the country. 
The Wolcott Woolen Company was incorporated in 1820 with a 
capital of $50,000, which was increased to $400,000 in 1824. Under 
practically the same management the Globe mill had been built and 
conducted in 1814. The company in 1824 comprised William Payne, 
president, Ebenezer T. Andrews, John Williams, and Samuel Torrey. 
The letter from Clerk Torrey to Daniel Webster accompanied two 
votes passed on January 25 " by the Wolcott Woolen Company, in 
consequence of the great losses they have met with during the past 
year; their accounts having been made up to the 31st of December, 
1826, and show a loss of more than 10 per cent on their capital stock, 
not by bad debts, as they do not exceed $100, but in consequence of 
the large quantities of woolens sent to this country from England 
and Germany and sold at auction at a very great loss if the fair 
duties had been paid upon them. The Wolcott Woolen Manufactur- 
ing Company have been incorporated several years; they have the 
most approved machinery and the cloths made at their factory have 
been sold from $1.75 to $10f per yard; they obtained the medal of 
the New England Society for the best cloth exhibited in October last ; 
there have been manufactured at the factory during the past year 
44,575 yards broadcloth, valued at from $1.50 to $8 per yard; the 
losses by other woolen manufactories must be about equal to ours, 
and we must suspend the business entirely unless the Government 
grant us some protection by an increase of duties. In the factory at 

S. Doc. 70, 61-1 3 



34 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Woodstock, to which the second vote refers, we have had in full 
operation the last year 15 broad hand looms and other necessary 
machinery for making superfine cloths, and at Southbridge we have 
had 16 power looms and 5 hand looms in operation. One-fourth part 
of the hands there are to be dismissed immediately and the wages 
of those retained are to be reduced, and it is our intention to lessen the 
number employed until the work is suspended unless we get some 
relief from Congress during the present session." 

The second vote directed " that the agent be required to have fin- 
ished all the cloth now in preparation at Woodstock and to suspend 
all business there by the 1st of April next if possible." 

Before the Senate had, in the early part of 1827, taken final action 
upon the tariff, the chambers of commerce of the four important ports 
of the country, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, had 
protested against increasing the duties upon importation, and un- 
doubtedly their combined persuasion influenced in a measure the 
subsequent decision. It is easy to perceive the reasons for their oppo- 
sition, since a restriction upon foreign commerce was a direct blow 
at the interests which they represented. 

The bill, however, owed its defeat primarily to the party struggle 
in the Senate, and its downfall, accomplished by the deciding vote of 
Vice-President Calhoun, constituted a blow at a presidential measure. 

the tariff of 1828 (1827-28). 

Notwithstanding the ill success which met the tariff bill of 1827, 
the protectionists renewed their efforts at once its defeat was assured. 
On July 30, 1827, a national convention of agriculturists, manufac- 
turers, and representatives of allied trades met at Harrisburg, Pa., 
and adopted resolutions advocating a higher tariff and urging upon 
the people of the country and Congress the necessity for such pro- 
tection to domestic industries. It became at once evident that the 
" woolen bill," so called for its most prominent feature, was to form 
the subject of controversy in the ensuing session of Congress, and 
meetings of alternating purpose were held from one end of the coun- 
try to the other. Citizens of cities, counties, States, and sections of 
the country were divided against each other as they separately found 
their employment in domestic wool growing, manufacture and sale, 
or in foreign commerce, and as the year progressed the struggle to 
elicit the support of Congress to one side or the other grew more 
keen and bitter. Broadly, the South was arraigned against the North 
and East, although dissenters were not infrequent in either section, 
particularly in the latter. Meetings and invariably consequent 
memorials were so numerous during this time that it is now impossible 
to take cognizance of the less important. 

About a month and a half prior to the Harrisburg convention the 
citizens and the chamber of commerce of Charleston, S. C, had met 
to express formal protest against the expanding policy of a pro- 
tective tariff. Their memorial stated two leading objections to the 
acceptance of this policy : First, that the duties contemplated in the 
bill must constitute an aggravation of an already unequal and bur- 
densome tax on the consumption of the Southern States, and, secondly, 
that they must have an increasing tendency to limit the foreign mar- 
kets for their (the South 's) staples. 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 

IX. 

At the meeting of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina on 
August 24, 1827, the constitutionality of the new tariff was denied 
and selfish motives were attributed to its advocacy. The resolutions 
adopted at this meeting, standing for the Youth's chief opposition to 
increased duties, stated : 

I. That any system of measures adopted by the General Government sub- 
versive of the equality of every branch of industry is repugnant both to the let- 
ter and spirit of the Constitution. 

II. That the protecting duties in favor of domestic manufactures at the ex- 
pense of agriculture are unequal in operation, invidious in principle, and of 
despotic policy; and 

III. That the woolen bill is a measure pregnant with evil to southern interests 
and should be resisted with decision and energy. 

It was suggested, moreover, that the bill of 1827 had been sud- 
denly introduced and passed through the House, and but for peculiar 
circumstances (the strength of the antiadministration party) would 
have been passed by the Senate. 

The citizens of Chester District, S. C, formulated resolutions of 
objection on September 3, 1827. They called attention to the in- 
creased cost of clothing for the slaves which the new tariff, they be- 
lieved, would bring about and the consequent unjust tax upon the 
South in favor of northern manufacturers. Further than this, it 
was believed that such measures were calculated to alienate a large 
class of citizens from federal interests. 

boston's protest. 

The most elaborate argument against an increase of duties upon 
imports was, however, prepared by certain citizens of Boston at an 
adjourned meeting on November 30, 1827. Their treatise on the tariff 
is preserved in its entirety but is not of permanent value, since its 
arguments were based upon the peculiar conditions then prevailing 
and was inspired undoubtedly by an ulterior motive and for individ- 
ual ends. It carried some weight at the time, however, and its state- 
ments and conclusions were frequently copied elsewhere. 

The committee chosen at the meeting comprised the following men, 
whose business connections are given to illustrate their commercial 
interest in the subject: 

Nathaniel Goddard, chairman, president of the New England 
Bank; Lemuel Shaw, counselor; Joseph Baker, president of the Mer- 
cantile Marine Insurance Company; William Foster, wharfinger; 
and Isaac Winslow, William Goddard, Enoch Silsby, Thomas W. 
Ward (of Eopes & Ward), Edward Cruft, Lot Wheelwright, Henry 
Lee, R. D. Shepherd, Samuel Swett, Daniel P. Parker, and Samuel 
C. Gray, merchants. 

A resolution prepared by the committee stated the opinion of the 
meeting to be " that in the present state of the agriculture, manufac- 
tures, and commerce of the United States it would be unjust, im- 
politic, and inconsistent with the best interests of the community to 
impose further and higher duties upon imported articles generally, 
and more particularly upon imported woolen goods." The memorial 
which accompanied the above resolution was an exhaustive attempt 



36 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

to disprove the arguments of the manufacturers and wool growers 
for higher duties. 

The tenor of their plea is quite well expressed in one of their prefa- 
tory sentences : 

If woolen manufacturers have had more than a common share of evils inci- 
dent to all enterprises, may they not more justly be attributed to that sudden 
and enormous extension of business occasioned partly by former gains, but 
principally by the injudicious augmentation of duty in 1824, than by auy want 
of sufficiently protecting duty? 

STATUS OF THE INDUSTRY. 

The paper is more valuable, however, for its exposition of condi- 
tions then obtaining. The business of the wool-manufacturing indus- 
try had increased from $10,000,000 in 1816 to $40,000,000 in 1827. 
The annual amount of wool imported was, roughlv, about 1,500,000 or 
2,000,000 pounds, valued at $569,476 in 1825 and" $449,725 in 1826. 

The number of sheep in the United States was estimated bv Xiles 
at 15,000,000 and by Pitkin at from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000, and the 
amount of wool yielded was presumed by the memorialists to be 
37,500,000 pounds, which with 2,000,000 pounds imported made the 
total annual consumption about 40,000,000 pounds. 

American producers of cloth contended that British manufacturers, 
with advantages of larger capital, more perfect machinery, lower 
prices of labor and materials, and greater experience and skill, could 
undersell them, notwithstanding average protectee charges of 57 per 
cent. They asserted, moreover, that they had lost more by the in- 
creased duty on wool than they had gained by the augmented tariff 
on woolens. The committee of Boston merchants believed that if 
the former assertion were true the industry had best be at once aban- 
doned as altogether unprofitable and impracticable of operation 
under any conditions, and believed that the country should give sup- 
port only to those enterprises that were of such a hardy nature that 
they could spring up and attain stability of existence under the most 
adverse conditions. 

OTHER ARGUMENTS AGAINST PROTECTION. 

On January 3, 1828, sundry citizens of Richland District, S. C, 
protested against the proposed increase of tariff and questioned the 
constitutionality of such action. The citizens of Georgetown, S. C, 
had also sent a petition of protest to Congress, making especial refer- 
ence to the increased cost of coarse woolens to result from the tariff, 
which formed the chief article of clothing for the negro slaves of the 
South. The latter memorialists stated that sales of domestic manu- 
factured woolens in the fall of 1825 at Boston had produced 30 to 
70 per cent upon capital invested and they believed that any further 
protection to the industry was entirety unwarrantable. 

The New York Chamber of Commerce next besieged Congress with 
a petition of remonstrance on January 19, 1828, which was followed 
on January 21, 1828, by a memorial from seventy-odd citizens of 
Westborough, in Worcester County. Mass., chiefly fanners and land- 
owners. In a memorial to Congress the latter stated "that the tariff 
of 1824 had been raised to a pitch affecting seriously agriculture and 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 37 

foreign commerce and that any increase would not benefit the man- 
ufacturers and would be permanently disadvantageous to the agri- 
culturists." 

On January 22, 1828, a large number of merchants and others of 
Philadelphia convened at the Merchants' Coffee House and framed 
resolutions and a memorial in opposition to protection. They af- 
firmed " that the tariff of 1824 was the result of a compromise and 
contained full, ample, and sufficient protection to the manufacturers 
of the country. It was confessed to be adequate and satisfactory, 
and further increase was deprecated and disavowed. But, neverthe- 
less, in 1826 a demand was made for such duties upon one of v the most 
essential articles of consumption in the country, namely, woolen goods, 
as would produce total interdiction of foreign importations." Other 
memorials objecting to an alteration of the existing tariff in the way 
of increased duties were presented by citizens of Maryland in Febru- 
ar}^; by citizens of Thomaston and vicinity on February 1, and the 
citizens of Dutchess County, N. Y., on February 18. 

EFFORTS OF THE PROTECTIONISTS. 

The protectionists meanwhile had not been idle and deluged Con- 
gress with a vast amount of arguments in favor of a highly protective 
policy. Judging of the respective merits of these two classes of 
memorials, in a time so far removed as the present, it seems that the 
statements of the protectionists were in the main more intelligent, 
instructive, and convincing than those* of their opponents, and in 
view of the popularity of that manner of controversy they must be 
accredited with considerable influence upon the subsequent result. 

On November 26, 1827, four days prior to the convention at Boston, 
earlier noted, certain citizens of Albany, comprising farmers and 
manufacturers, inaugurated a formal appeal for further and more 
adequate protection than then obtaining. They believed that an in- 
creased duty on wool would tend to relieve the present embarrass- 
ments of the farmer and asserted their sympathy with the Harris- 
burg convention in its urgent appeal to Congress to extend " ade- 
quate protection and encouragement to the growing of wool, hemp, 
flax, and to woolens, iron, and other articles of domestic production 
and manufacture." 

They explained that the law of 1824 had failed to afford that pro- 
tection expected from its operation by means of countervailing meas- 
ures on the part of the British Government, and that both wool 
grower and manufacturer had in consequence become seriously em- 
barrassed for want of a fair market at home. 

At a meeting of sundry citizens of Philadelphia, held a short while 
afterwards, a memorial was formulated praying that additional 
duties be imposed upon certain manufactured articles when imported, 
similar to the proposition of the Harrisburg convention. 

On January 5, 1828, a number of farmers and manufacturers of 
the county of Kent, R. I., met at the inn of Oliver Johnson, in Cen- 
terville (Warwick), in the interests of protection. The substance of 
their deliberations was to the effect that " the growth and manufac- 
ture of wool have long been laboring under a depression and gradual 
depreciation which, without the further intervention of the General 
Government, must ultimately and speedily produce a total inability 



38 THE WOOL TBADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

on the part of the farmer to furnish his wool or the manufacturer his 
cloth in competition with the foreign article." 

Shortly after this meeting the State of Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence Plantations resolved in general assembly " that our delega- 
tion in Congress be requested to use all proper efforts to procure such 
increase of duties upon imports as may effectually afford protection 
to the production and manufacturing of wool, cotton, iron, hemp, and 
flax." 

Pennsylvania's appeal. 

The most important aid given the protectionist cause was probably 
through the resolutions and a memorial sent the Pennsylvania Repre- 
sentatives and Senators in Congress by the legislature of that State. 

After instructing their Senators and requesting their Representa- 
tives to aid in procuring the establishment of additional protection, it 
was said — 

that experience having proved that the present tariff of the Government of the 
United States, while it has been productive of great and extensive benefits to the 
country, has yet been insufficient to render that protection to our domestic manu- 
facturers and agricultural interests to which they are fairly entitled ; these im- 
portant branches of internal industry so closely connected that it may now be 
said the prosperity of the one depends upon the success of the other, are equally 
entitled to aid and encouragement. The best interests of our country demand 
that every possible exertion should be made to procure the passage of an act of 
Congress imposing such duties as will enable our manufacturers to enter into 
fair competition with foreign manufacturers and protect the farmer, the grower 
of hemp and wool, and the distiller of spirits from domestic materials against 
foreign competition. The people of Pennsylvania do not ask for such a tariff 
as would secure to any one class or any section of the country a monopoly. 
They want a system of protection which will extend its blessings as well as its 
burdens as equally as possibly over every part of the Union ; to be uniform in its 
operation upon the rich as well as the poor. 

This document was presented over the names of Abner Middles- 
warth, speaker of the house; Daniel Sturgeon, speaker of the Senate; 
and J. Andrew Shulze, governor of the State. 

FURTHER PETITIONS FOR HIGHER DUTIES. 

This was followed by a petition of similar purport from citizens of 
Northumberland County, Pa., which argued to the advantage prin- 
cipally of the farmer. It pointed out that — 

while the ports of Great Britain are closed against the agriculturist, annual 
importations of $20,000,000 from that nation in manufactures depress and ruin 
domestic industry and disable the mechanic and manufacturer of our country 
from growing up alongside of the farmer to consume his products. Liberal 
support by augmented duties establish immovably manufactures of wool, iron, 
flax, hemp, and printed cottons, and insure a reduction in prices for them ahd 
appreciated rates for the agriculturist. 

Then the citizens of Herkimer County, N. Y., the woolgrowers and 
citizens of New York, petitioned severally for additional protection, 
as did also the manufacturers of Philadelphia and citizens of Penn- 
sylvania. As it drew near the time for final congressional action the 
merchant tailors of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston sent sep- 
arate appeals to Congress for increased duties upon ready-made cloth- 
ing, and New York merchants asked for a clause in the proposed tariff 
bill that should cause to be levied upon public sales of goods at 
auction a duty of 10 per cent. 



THE WOOL TRADE OE THE UNITED STATES. 39 

Wishing to be sure of their ground, the House of Representatives 
had directed the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures to ex- 
amine representative manufacturers of wool, on their oath, as to the 
exact condition of the industry. 

Fourteen owners and proprietors of woolen mills, consuming an 
aggregate amount of 716,559 pounds of wool annually, appeared be- 
fore the committee and reported upon the conditions obtaining in 
their several manufactories. 

x. 

Some of the testimony given by witnesses called before the Com- 
mittee of Commerce and Manufactures was as follows : 

Col. James Shepherd, of the Shepherd Woolen Manufacturing 
Company, of Northampton, Mass., which was the most extensive 
woolen establishment in the country, testified that the company was 
capitalized at $130,000, manufactured broadcloths and cassimeres, 
and had lost about $30,000 in two years. 

James Wolcott, jr., of the Wolcott Woolen Manufacturing Com- 
pany, capitalized at $126,000, making broadcloths, stated that the 
stock had depreciated 50 per cent. In 1826 the company had lost 
$23,095, exclusive of interest on capital. 

Benjamin Poor, of Saxon and Leicester factories, Worcester and 
Middlesex counties, Mass., with a capital of $150,000, sustained a loss 
up to July, 1827, of $26,394. 

Jonas B. Brown, of the Goodall Manufacturing Company, of Mill- 
bury, Mass., which had a capital of $80,460, and was employed on 
broadcloths and satinets, reported that the manufacture of the latter 
was unprofitable. 

Hon. A. Tufts, of the Tufts Manufacturing Company, of Dudley, 
Mass., began in 1824 with a capital of $40,000. He showed a loss of 
$5,000 in eighteen months, exclusive of interest. 

Joshua Clapp, who had factories at Litchfield, Conn., and at 
Northampton, Mass., employed on broadcloths, lost, in 1825-26, 
$8,995, including commission, and in 1826-27, $3,895, notwithstanding 
that his rent was free. 

THE NEW TARIFF. 

These reports were accompanied by others from the Middle States, 
and the evidence of the unprofitable condition of the industry seemed 
sufficiently conclusive to warrant early congressional action for its 
relief. 

On May 19, 1828, a tariff bill was enacted which provided for the 
following duties: On wool unmanufactured, 4 cents per pound, and 
also 40 per cent ad valorem until June 30, 1829 ; from that time an 
additional duty of 5 per cent annually until the whole of the said ad 
valorem duty should amount to 50 per cent ; on manufactures of wool 
of the value of 50 cents or less per square yard, 40 per cent ad valorem 
of at least 50 cents per square yard until June 30, 1829, and after- 
wards 45 per cent ad valorem; provided that manufactures not ex- 
ceeding a cost of 33J cents per square yard should pay 14 cents per 
square yard. This duty of 40 per cent, to be increased in a year to 45 
per cent, was also laid upon the minimum valuations of $1, $2.50, and 
$4 per square yard. Goods costing over $4 per square yard were to 



40 THE WOOL TBADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

be subjected to a 45 per cent ad valorem duty for a year, to be increased 
at the end of that time to 50 per cent ad valorem. On hosiery, woolen 
blankets, etc., the duty was fixed at 35 per cent and on ready-made 
clothing at 50 per cent ad valorem. 

A PERIOD OF SUCCESSFUL MANUFACTURE FOLLOWED BY FAILURE (1828- 

1837). 

The tariff of 1828 gave to the wool manufacturers of the country 
the most ample protection they had yet enjoyed. Its one drawback, 
from their own point of consideration, was the increased rate of 
duties laid upon raw wool, which made the production of cloth less 
profitable than it might otherwise have been. 

Domestic flocks of sheep had increased quite rapidly in size, and 
yielded, moreover, a fair proportion of fine wool. Nevertheless, they 
did not afford sufficient quantities of the quality required for domestic 
consumption, and in 1828, and again in 1831 and 1832, American 
manufacturers resorted to the expedient of banding together and 
sending a buyer abroad for suitable supplies. On reaching this 
country the wool was offered to the subscribers at auction, each pur- 
chasing such amount as suited his needs and sharing the profit or loss 
on the whole transaction in proportion to his subscription. 

Notwithstanding the difficulty experienced in obtaining their raw 
material, this was an exceptionally prosperous season for the manu- 
facturers and they made the most of the advantages offered them. 
Between 1828 and 1832 there were few changes made in the wool 
trade of Boston. In the latter year there were, as two years previous, 
the wool houses of Livermore & Kendall, of James Vila, and of Joseph 
Vila. The former was probably the only concern doing business 
strictly as dealers, while the Vilas in their separate establishments 
were conducting a warehouse and a brokerage business. 

LARGE AUCTION SALES. 

Early in 1828 large sales of wool at auction took place in Boston. 
On March 14 Coolidge, Poor & Head sold at Fanueil Hall, under 
the direction of the New England Society, 50,000 pounds of full-blood 
merino, high-grade, and native wool. Immediately after the close of 
this sale, on the same day, the same auctioneers sold at No. 5 Phillips 
Building, 200 bales of Leonesa wool, 100 bales of Spanish lambs, 300 
bales of Spanish wool, and 17,000 pounds of Saxony. This second 
sale completed, the crowd of purchasers then went to the auctioneer- 
ing rooms of Whitewell, Bond & Co., at 3 Lindall street, where 144 
bales of Spanish lambs were offered for sale. 

In all, about 750 bales and 67,000 pounds of wool were sold at the 
three auctions at the following rates: 

Cents per pound. 

Portuguese at 23*@ 30 

Russia washed at 32£ 

Saxony at i 30 (r?115 

Spanish lambs at 40 (a 45 

Spanish Leonesa at 50 @ 56 

Half Saxony fleece at 51* 

Full-blood at 45 

The time allowed for credit on the purchases was four, six, and 
eight months. 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 41 

The effect of these sales was to be seen in immediately lower prices, 
although the reduction was not extensive. Early in March, Saxony 
wool, clean, quoted at 50 cents to $1.50; Spanish, clean, at 40 cents; 
American full-blood, washed, at 45@55 cents; superfine, pulled, 
lambs, at 40@50 cents; and Smyrna, washed, at 16@19 cents. Fol- 
lowing the sales, Saxony, clean, quoted at 50c.@$1.25; American full- 
blooded at 40@48 cents and superfine, pulled, at 40@45 cents. 

Importers at this time were quite extensively interested in the sale 
of wool as a side venture, as were commission houses as well. On 
March 14, 1828, the day of the sale, Samuel F. Barry, of 61 Water 
street, offered for sale the following selection: 2,000 pounds of fine 
wool, 6,000 of Elme, 12,000 of Salonica, 8,000 of fine and coarse 
picked, 10,000 of washed Eastern wool, and 13,000 of fine fleeces. 
Barry dealt also in foreign and American teazles. John W. Lang- 
don & Co., of 41 India street, in addition to dealing in fruits and 
wines, had for sale 100 bales of fine washed Smyrna, 50 bales of 
limed white and gray wool, and 50 bales of unwashed Smyrna. E. D. 
Tucker, of India wharf, also had wool for sale, and H. Lee, of 39 
India wharf, announced that he had 30,000 pounds of Buenos Aires 
wool available for purchase. 

SALES OF WOOL AND SHEEP. 

On June 10, 1828, another extensive auction sale took place. This 
was conducted also by Coolidge, Poor & Head and was held at the hall 
over Faneuil Market. The offerings comprised 284 bales of Saxony 
of various grades, 350 bales of Leonesa, TO bales of Spanish lambs, 
100 bales of Spanish wool, and 50,000 pounds of American fleeces. 

A month later, on July 10, 1828, the same auctioneers conducted a 
public sale, at Brighton, of a flock of Saxony sheep imported by 
George and Thomas Searle, who were well known in this line of busi- 
ness. The lot of sheep in question comprised 72 rams, 150 ewes, and 
14 lambs. 

In this same month Whitney, Cabot & Co.,- importers and commis- 
sion merchants at 12 Central street, offered for sale the following 
selections : 

Bales. 

Fine Saxony 37 

Fine Smyrna 125 

Western stapled : '■. 15 

Selected full-blood fleeces 15 

Flannel 60 

Peruvian , 375 

Spanish wool, of choice marks 100 

In January, 1831, wool sold freely on a basis of 60c. @$1 for Saxony 
clean, 60@65 cents for American full-blood, and 55@60 cents for 
lambs super. In this month William Whitney, of 41 Broad street, 
offered for sale 22,000 pounds of coarse wool, 1,400 Spanish, 300 
Saxon lambs, and 4,500 fleece wool. 

XI. 

In 1831 the number of sheep in the United States was estimated at 
20,000,000, which were worth on an average about $2 a head. The 
capital invested in sheep and lands to feed them was about 
$105,000,000. The fixed and floating capital invested in the woolen 



42 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

manufacture was about $40,000,000. The number of persons em- 
ployed in the industry was 162,000, requiring for materials and sub- 
sistence $250,000,000 worth of agricultural products yearly. New 
York probably produced one- fourth of all the wool in the United 
States, and Massachusetts manufactured one-fourth also. The quan- 
tity of wool imported into Boston in the first nine months of 1831 
was 2,491,846 pounds, and the average of the two previous years was 
over 500,000 pounds. At this time, however, Philadelphia was prob- 
ably the chief market for domestic wool, continuing so until the 
supremacy in the wool trade was wrested from her some score of years 
later by her rival in New England. During 1831 the price of fine 
wool in Boston ranged from 70 to 75 cents per pound, having ad- 
vanced since 1727 from 36 to 43 cents per pound. 

PROTESTS OF THE SOUTH. 

The prosperity following the enactment of the highly protective 
tariff of 1828 was by no means limited to the wool industry. General 
business throughout the country was invigorated, while the revenues 
accruing from duties, averaging 41 per cent upon imports, speedily 
diminished the country's enormous debt. Yet the measure was con- 
tinually provocative of jealousy and of controversy. Sections of the 
South sent to Congress messages of disapproval shortly after the 
bill became a law, and the fight in opposition to its enforcement was 
unceasing. South Carolina was the leading spirit in the struggle 
against national measures of protection and carried her opposition 
to the verge of secession from the Union. 

The state legislature of Georgia also protested, in the latter part 
of 1828, against the act of Congress during its preceding session and 
referred to the agitated condition of the southern section of the 
country caused thereby. The legislators of Georgia stated that for 
the same reason " public tranquillity was endangered, the confidence 
of whole States in the Federal Government was weakened, and the 
affection of large masses of people for the Union itself was dimin- 
ished." Early in the following year certain citizens of Boston became 
again recalcitrant and begged for a revision of the tariff regulations 
of 1828. 

By 1831 the most ample provisions of the law, which provided for 
a yearly increase of rate of duties, were operative and were un- 
doubtedly in certain instances of such exaggerated advantage to some 
as to be detrimental to other interests of the country. Indeed, the 
golden mean of protection was hardly struck in this tariff, especially 
in its culminating provisions, which possibly injured the policy in 
parts of the country by their excessiveness. 

THE FREE TRADE CONVENTION. 

Toward the latter part of this year, 1831, antitariff meetings were 
held in various States, and through these a general assembly was 
called to convene in Philadelphia on the 30th of September. This 
was known as the " Free Trade Convention " and comprised represent- 
atives from 15 States. After a conclave lasting about a week, a com- 
mittee was chosen, consisting of one member from each State repre- 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 

sented, to draw up in suitable form and to place before Congress the 
deliberation and conclusions of the convention. The memorial, pre- 
pared by Albert Gallatin and sent to Congress on January 23, 1832, 
presented the protests of the antitariff classes of the country against 
the then existing rate of duties upon imports and asked for a revision 
of the law. 

It was suggested in the appeal " that the duties be so reduced as to 
leave, after the extinguishment of the public debt, only that amount 
of revenue which may be necessary to meet the ordinary exigencies of 
the Government," and." that, allowing a reasonable time for the re- 
duction of the present exaggerated duties on some articles, the duties 
on all the imported articles, not free of duty, be equalized so that 
the duty on any such article sl^all not vary materially from the gen- 
eral average rate of all duties together, or, that is, from a uniform 
duty ad valorem on all imported articles subject to duty." 

CONCLAVE OF TIIE PROTECTIONISTS. 

On the 26th of October a similar convention was held at New York 
by the " Friends of Domestic Industry." Over 500 delegates attended 
the meeting from the New England and Middle States, Maryland, 
Virginia, Ohio, and the District of Columbia. The whole question of 
a protective system of tariffs in its application to the industries of 
the United States was reopened, exhaustively examined, and eluci- 
dated for the instruction of the people of the country. The most 
important branches of domestic manufacture and agricultural and 
commercial industries were looked into and reported upon by special 
committees. Their conclusions, reenf orced by the strongest arguments 
for the support and further extension of the American system, as 
involved in the various pursuits of domestic industry, were forwarded 
to Congress, where they exerted a counterbalancing influence upon 
the efforts of the free traders of the country. 

In compliance with the instructions of Congress the Secretary of 
the Treasury, in May, 1832, submitted a draft of a proposed revision 
of the tariff. By this the draft duty on manufactured wool was to be 
reduced from 4 cents and 50 per cent ad valorem per pound to 4 cents 
and 5 per cent ad valorem on wool costing less than 10 cents, and 
above, 20 per cent ad valorem. On woolen goods it was proposed to 
reduce the duty to 10 per cent where it amounted to 45 to 66 per cent ; 
to 30 per cent where it was 45 to, 112 per cent. 

A bill prepared by the Senate proposed to leave the tariff on raw 
wool unchanged and to lay duties on woolens costing under 50 cents 
per square yard, of from 45 to 66 per cent, and above, from 45 to 225 
per cent. 

The revised tariff, as presented by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
was vigorously opposed throughout New England and the Middle 
States, and the bill which became law on July 14, 1832, was not less 
lenient in its measures than the treasurer's draft. 

By this latter tariff it was provided that raw wool, costing less than 
8 cents per pound (exclusive of dirt admixtures), should be admitted 
free of duty, and wool exceeding this cost should be subject to a duty 
of 4 cents and 40 per cent ad valorem. The duty upon manufactures 
of wool was fixed at 50 per cent. 



44 THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

THREATENED SECESSION. 

It was hoped that the new tariff with its nominal revisions at least 
would serve to pacify the South in its fiery opposition to protection 
by tariff of any sort. But such proved not to be the case. South 
Carolina, relying upon the support of the other States of the South, 
in November of 1832 declared the tariffs of 1828 and of 1832 null, 
void, and not binding upon her officers and citizens. This ordinance 
of nullification was to have taken effect February 1, 1833, but the 
prompt action of the President in occupying Charleston Harbor with 
a naval force prevented its operation. 

Although the attempt by South Carolina to evade the import tax 
was frustrated by President Jackson, /this action led, nevertheless, to 
a compromise in the following year, when the protectionists sacrificed 
considerable of their own welfare to weld more firmly the interests 
of the several States. 

The compromise tariff of 1833 provided for a duty upon raw wool 
costing over 8 cents per pound of 4 cents and 38 per cent ad valorem, 
which ad valorem duty was reduced yearly so that by 1842, the date 
of the next tariff, it amounted to about 26 per cent or 4 cents per 
pound and 20 per cent ad valorem. Eight cent wool and under was 
admitted free. 

Woolen goods were subject to a duty of 44 per cent, which was re- 
duced to 38 per cent in 1842 and 29 per cent on June 30, 1842. 

The act of 1833 was not operative until 1834, nor were its measures 
of material effect until some years later. Thus for a period of 
several years wool manufacturers, in common with the promoters of 
other industries, flourished under quite adequate protection until the 
financial crisis of 1837, together with lessening duties on importa- 
tions, encompassed the ruin of many establishments. 

CHANGES IN THE WOOL TRADE. 

The course of the wool market at Boston, during the year 1837, 
representing the conditions prevailing among the manufactories of 
New England and probably of the rest of the country as well, re- 
flected dullness, depression, and ruin among mill owners in its own 
inactivity and decline. 

During this period the personnel of the wool trade had been but 
slightly altered. One of the changes was shown in the following an- 
nouncement made March 14, 1837: Denny & Dutton have this day 
associated with them, Mr. George Denny , a and will continue the com- 
mission business under the firm of Denny & Co. at 41 Kilby street. 

a Daniel Denny, the founder of the house of Denny, Rice & Co., was born in 
Leicester, Worcester County. He came to Boston in 1815 and commenced busi- 
ness in his own name in 1817 at No. 9 Cornhill. One year later he associated 
with him as partner Mr. Rreck Parkman, of Westboro. Mass.. which partnership 
was continued until 1823, when Mr. Daniel Denny bought out his partner, the 
firm continuing under the style of Daniel Denny & Co. Ten years later a co- 
partnership was formed with George D. Dutton as commission merchants under 
the firm name of Denny & Dutton. In 1837 George Denny, a brother of Daniel, 
was admitted into the house, which continued under the firm name of Denny 
& Co. until 1840. Up to this tittle the business of the firm had been chiefly in 
woolen goods as jobbers and commission merchants. 

In 1840 Danniel Denny, Henry A. Rice, and Heury J. Gardner formed a co- 
partnership under the name of Denny, Rice & Gardner as commission merchants 
for the sale of wool and woolen goods. In 1853 Mr. George P. Denny was 



THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 45 

By 1837 the prices of both domestic and foreign wool had risen to 
a very high level. On April 1 of this year the following prices were 
quoted in the Boston market : 

DOMESTIC. 

Cents. 

Saxony and merino fleece 15(ci 80 

Full blood — 65(0, TO 

Three-quarter blood 60^ 02 

One-half blood 55@ 58 

Common one-quarter blood 50@ 55 

Lambs, super 65@ 70 

FOREIGN. 

Saxony, prime 85(0,130 

New South Wales 70(a; 78 

Buenos Ayres 8|@ 10 

At this time operations in wool were limited, and in spite of the 
fact that the stock of wool from the preceeding domestic clip was 
nearly exhausted, prices lacked buoyancy. 

On April 5, 1837, Richards & Bispham, auctioneers, held a pre- 
emptory sale of wool at 34 South Front street, Philadelphia. The 
offerings, comprising 2,500 bales of Barbary unwashed white sheeps' 
wool, had been imported by Samuel Moss & Sons, of 3 Grey's alley. 

A STAGNANT INDUSTRY. 

A month later the market at Boston had become stagnant. By the 
1st of May the sale of wood was completely suspended and prices 
had no basis upon which to determine their fluctuations. There was 
but the narrowest market for woolen goods and manufacturers could 
only dispose of their products at a sacrifice. Factories were not well 
employed and many had ceased operations. The stock of domestic 
wool in the market was light, but on the other hand considerable of 
the last clip was yet in the hands of the growers. Through May and 
June the market continued absolutely quiet, with no transactions of 
importance whatever. Early in June inquiries were made for wool 
at prices showing a decline of about 20 per cent from the last sales, 
but no business was done. 

Wool was then subject to an import duty of 4 cents and 40 per cent 
ad valorem. During July the market remained practically dead, 
with no sales of any consequence being made. At the same time from 
one-third to. one-half of all the woolen manufacture was suspended. 
The market was so absolutely void of business that quotations were 
no guide whatever to prices. 

admitted partner, and the style of Denny. Rice & Gardner was continued until 
1857. 

In 1855 Mr. Gardner was elected governor of the Commonwealth and retired 
from the firm in 1857. when the style of the firm was changed to Denny, Rice 
& Co.. which has since remained the same. William G. Benedict was admitted 
partner in 1866 and Henry A. Rice, jr., in 1879. Mr. Daniel Denny died in 1872 
and George P. Denny in 1885. Since 1871 the business of the firm has been 
confined to wool exclusively. Henry A. Rice died early this year. The present 
partnership consists of William G. Benedict, Henry A. Rice, jr., and George W. 
Benedict. 



46 THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

RAPID DECLINE OF PRICES. 

In the latter part of August some sales of Smyrna wool were made, 
but other foreign and American wool was still in no demand at ac- 
ceptable prices. But little of the year's clip of wool had been brought 
to the market, " there being no sale for it, except at a great reduction 
on the previous clip." During the week preceeding September 2, a 
sale of 100 bales of South American fine picked wool was made at 15 
cents. The time of credit allowed on this purchase was six months. 
American wool was not called for and remained almost entirely in 
growers' hands. Ify the 1st of October domestic wool had come into 
better demand and sales, although light, were yet sufficient to render 
prices more settled. On October 7, 1837, the following quotations of 
domestic wool were given: 

Cents. 

Saxony and merino fleeces 60@62 

Full blood 52@55 

Three-quarter blood 50 

One-half blood 45 

Common one-quarter blood 37@40 

Lambs, super 45 

Foreign prices were nominal and unquotable. 

The wide difference in prices shown by a comparison of this table 
with that of April 1, given above, in view also of an almost complete 
suspension of trade in wool for upward of six months, gives a force- 
ful proof of the terrible havoc wrought in the industry by the finan- 
cial and commercial panic of that year of 1837. Toward the close of 
October prices weakened still further and the giving way of sellers 
encouraged a little more business. During this same month a con- 
siderable quantity of foreign wool was sold and manufacturers pur- 
chased wool to some extent directly from the farmers in the country. 

At the close of the year domestic Saxony wool had fallen to 55@57 
cents, and full blood to 48@50 cents. Foreign wool was dull and 
manufacturers were buying American wool slowly as needed. 

XII. 
CONTROVERSY AND COMPROMISE. 

The conditions attendant upon the financial panic of 1837 oc- 
casioned several changes in the Boston wool trade of that period. 
The firm of Livermore & Kendall was dissolved in the latter part of 
1837, and in the following year Isaac Livermore associated with him 
his son George, the firm being then known as I. Livermore & Co., do- 
ing business at 97 Milk street. Hugh R. Kendall retained, however, 
the old place of business at Quincy Hall, and conducted a commission 
business alone. 

The same causes also precipitated the dissolution of the auctioneer- 
ing and commission house of Whitwell, Bond & Co., after which 
Whitwell and Seaver continued the business of the old firm, while 
George Bond associated with him his sons George William Bond, 
who had been admitted to partnership in the house of Whitwell, 
Bond & Co. in 1832, and Charles R. Bond. The new firm was known 
as George Bond & Sons, and had offices at 9 Kilby street. 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



47 



In 1842 the wool trade comprised Hugh K. Kendall, 47 Kilby 
street; I. Livermore & Co., James Vila, 1 Bath street; Shadrach S. 
Pearce, 43 Pearce street, who had abandoned the occupation of a 
musician to engage in that of wool selling, and Thomas B. Town- 
send & Son, 53 Chatham street. 

An estimate of the number of sheep in the United States was made 
in 1836 by C. Benton and S. F. Barry, after canvassing the flocks 
of the country and compiling all official data obtainable from the 
States. This estimate can not, of course, be considered accurate, but 
it is at least an approximate report upon the flocks of the country 
and their distribution, and in the absence of other more accurate data 
must stand for the statistics of the period. The total number of sheep 
was given in this report as 12,897,638, producing 41,917,324 pounds 
of wool, which was valued at $21,168,246. New York had the largest 
flock, numbering 4,299,879 and growing 13,974,606 pounds of wool. 
Next came Pennsylvania with 1,714,640 sheep, Ohio with 1,711,200, 
and Massachusetts with 1,099,011 sheep, the latter yielding annually 
3,500,000 pounds of wool. 

GOVERNMENT STATISTICS. 

In 1840 the United States Department of Agriculture estimated 
the number of sheep in the country to be 19,311,000, yielding 
35,802,114 pounds of wool. The census of this year was very chary 
of facts relating either to wool growing or the manufacturing in- 
dustry, giving but the merest outline of the condition prevailing. 
The number of wool manufacturing establishments was not given, 
but the capital invested was placed at $15,765,124, the hands employed 
at 21,342, and the value of the products at $20,696,999. 

The commerce of the United States had been subjected to violent 
and disastrous changes during the half dozen years following 1833. 
Immediately prior to 1837 the country was dominated by a craze 
of speculation, bolstered up by the free circulation of negotiable 
money under the false condition of the currency. Values were, con- 
sequently, fictitious but the soundest financiers and business men 
were misled in their judgment and were involved in the seductions 
of the speculative maelstrom. Therefore, when the currency bubble 
was pricked in 1837 the consequent disaster was general to all business 
enterprises and the shock to the commercial life of the country was 
severe. 

The public debt had been extinguished finally by the duties accru- 
ing from the excessive importations of 1836, and with the settlement 
of this national obligation the surplus revenue was divided among the 
States. But the conditions which brought about the suspension of 
importations in the following year deprived the Government of its 
revenue and reduced it to the obligation of issuing Treasury notes to 
offset current exigencies. 

EVASIONS OF THE TARIFF. 



Through several successive years the revenue from the tariff ill- 
balanced the economical expenditures of the Government and was 
rendered yet smaller by the fraudulent evasions of tariffs by foreign 
exporters of goods to this country. The attention of Congress was 



48 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

forcibly called to this matter at the close of the year 1839 by a 
memorial of manufacturers who met in December at Southbridge, 
Mass. 

Their grievances were presented in the following form : 

Your memorialists respectfully represent that they have for many years 
been engaged in the manufacture of wool, having entered upon the business 
believing that it would be safe and permanent and relying upon the faithful 
execution of the tariff laws. But while these laws have been carried into full 
effect with regard to the importations of raw material, thereby keeping up 
the prices of wool in particular, very much above the prices paid by foreign 
manufacturers, manufactured goods have been coming to this country in 
large quantities invoiced at much less than their cost or value, thereby evad- 
ing the laws and placing the American manufacturer upon worse grounds than 
if no tariff existed. 

This has been done almost all if not entirely by foreigners, who have been 
thereby enabled to undersell the honest American importer : and this has in- 
creased in a few years to such an extent as to drive from the importation of 
woolens nearly all the American importers, and it is now estimated that seven- 
eighths of all the woolens imported come into the country on foreign account. 
But your memorialists will leave the American importers to speak for them- 
selves, and respectfully represent that these frauds on the revenue, and con- 
sequently extreme low prices of woolens, have ruined many and forced all to 
stop their mills wholly or in part, until at the present time less than one-half 
of the woolen machinery in the country is in operation, causing much distress 
among the operatives as well as among the owners. 

The memorial concluded with an appeal to Congress to institute the 
proper measures to guard against the evasions of tariff laws, and was 
signed by Samuel L. Fiske, agent of the Hamilton Woolen Company, 
and 134 others. 

CLAY'S COMPROMISE TARIFF. 

- The " compromise tariff " of 1833, was framed by Henry Clay to 
meet the demands of the moment and primarily to place a quietus 
upon the rebellious citizens of the Southern States, particularly of 
South Carolina. Almost every section of the country, prior to 1865. 
intimated or threatened secession from the Union for what was con- 
sidered to be discriminating legislation by the Federal Government. 
New England herself at least incurred the suspicion of this inten- 
tion, but a few of the Southern States were even more violent in their 
demonstrations. Thus when the tariff of 1833 removed all cause for 
complaint from the South, even at the sacrifice of certain northern 
interests the measure was provocative of general relief. It was hoped 
by many that it would settle for good and all time the much-debated 
question of revenue from imports and that its final regulation of the 
tariff (to be operative in 1842) would be of permanent effect. Indeed. 
its construction was believed by not a few to be " constitutional " and 
any attempts to alter its laws to be violation of the bonds of federa- 
tion. 

The conditions prevailing in agriculture, manufactures, and com- 
merce during and subsequent to the panic of 1837 served, however, to 
reopen the tariff question. The act of 1833 provided for a yearly 
decreasing rate of duty, and by 1840 the tariff was so much reduced 
that the question of revenue for the Government's current expenses 
was involved as well as the necessity for securing the resumption of 
protective rates in order to stimulate the again helpless manufactur- 
ing industry. 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



49 



THE HOME LEAGUE. 

On October 15, 1841, a home league was formed in the interests of 
protection. The avowed object of the league was the restoration of 
the high rates of duties, and its members were indefatigable in their 
advocacy of their cause. In Congress the home league found ready 
partisans, chief among whom was Henry Clay, who had been accused 
of turning his back upon protection when he formulated his com- 
promise tariff of eight years before. 

Early in 1842 the state legislatures took up the question and urged 
a revision of the tariff laws. On February 11 of this same year the 
State of New Jersey, in general assembly, passed resolutions instruct- 
ing its Senators and Representatives in Congress " to use their utmost 
exertions to secure a tariff to protect more amply the agricultural and 
manufacturing interests of the State and of the United States." 

The disposition shown by Congress to let the matter of a tariff wait 
action was freely condemned throughout the North and East, but 
congressional action was considerably impeded by the strength of the 
strict constructionists and the controversy between the Whigs and the 
President. 

The wool manufacturing industry was by this time in a rather 
deplorable condition. The market for goods was exceedingly limited. 
Many mills were closed and their operatives thrown out of employ- 
ment. Others were but lightly employed and the few goods that 
were finished brought meager profits to their producers. 

Connecticut's appeal. 

On June 10 the legislature of Connecticut formulated resolutions 
strongly advocating a discriminative tariff. The argument in these 
papers was direct and forcible. 

While we yield [it said] to the principles of an act of Congress passed 
on the 2d day of March, 1833, and generally known as the " compromise tariff," 
in limiting the duties on imports to such an amount of revenue as may be 
necessary to an economical administration of the Government, including, of 
course, ample provision for the defense of the country, yet we hold to the right 
and duty of Congress so to discriminate in the distribution of those duties over 
the list of imports, as may render the most efficient encouragement and pro- 
tection to American industry, whether employed in the factory, the workshop, 
the field, or upon the ocean. 

It was further resolved that — 

the inaction of Congress on the subject of a tariff merits and receives our 
decided disapprobation. We did expect that an exhausted Treasury, forced 
loans, desolated manufactories, unemployed operatives, and doubtful and gloomy 
prospects before us all, would have furnished sufficient incentives to arouse 
every American citizen to speedy and effective action. 

THE TARIFF OF 1842. 



During the summer of 1842 a tariff bill was brought up in Congress 
and was passed by both Houses, which had as a rider a provision for 
the distribution of the surplus among the States. The measure was 
condemned by the President and received his veto. The bill was 
again passed by Congress, this time with the objectionable clause 

S. Doc. 70, 61-1 4 



50 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

struck out, and was signed by the President on August 30, passing 
immediately into effect. 

The new tariff was designed for purposes of revenue only, although 
manufacturers managed to secure some advantages under its meager 
protection. Raw wool costing less than 7 cents per pound at the place 
from whence exported was dutiable at 5 per cent ad valorem, and 
wool costing more than 7 cents per pound incurred when imported a 
duty of 3 cents and 30 per cent ad valorem. Manufactures of wool 
were subject to a uniform duty of 40 per cent. This tariff inaugu- 
rated the payment of duties in cash on the home valuation, thereby 
abolishing the credit system after the withdrawal of goods by 
importers. 

The subsequent recovery to at least normal condition by the manu- 
facturers was slow. The new tariff did not furnish incentive to 
induce them to make free production in advance of the market's de- 
mands, and it was some time before woolen machinery was again in 
full operation. The revision in tariff duties was really to manu- 
facturers' advantage, and in comparison with the compromise tariff 
of 1833 in the latter years of its operation, the new laws were of 
great benefit to the industry. 

The protectionists of the country and the strict constructionists 
(hardly distinguishable classes) were, however, opposed to even a 
semblance of protection and very shortly took up the fight again. 

Through the instrumentality of the free traders and the strict 
constructionists a revised tariff bill was introduced into Congress 
in 1844, favoring a reduced tariff, but was defeated. 

On account of this bill and the prominent opposition to protection 
which it reflected, the State of Pennsylvania took action in the 
defense of the existing tariff. The resolutions passed and submitted 
to Congress were as follows : 

Whereas the present tariff promises to answer the purposes of revenue and 
also to yield to American industry the encouragement necessary to the develop- 
ment of the great resources of our country ; whereas permanency in our revenue 
laws is indispensably necessary to the protection of the capital and labor em- 
barked in manufacturing and agricultural operations; and whereas a bill is 
now pending in the Congress of the United States, whose operation would 
affect injuriously the important staple productions of this Commonwealth : 
Therefore 

Resolved by the senate and house of representatives of the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania in general assembly met, That our Senators in Congress be 
instructed and our Representatives be requested to oppose any change in the 
present tariff which might prove injurious to the manufacturing interests of 
this Commonwealth, sternly to resist any reduction in the present duties on 
iron, coal, and wool, and to omit no effort to sustain all the great interests of 
the nation calculated to foster and promote American industry. 

XIII. 

In 1846 the subject of a tariff was reopened with a vigor that 
promised an early revision of its measures. The question was taken 
up as a strictly party measure and its provisions were formulated to 
meet the doctrine of the strict constructionists, namely, the regulations 
of duties for revenue only, placing all merchandise, as far as practi- 
cable, under a uniform rate of import duly without material discrimi- 
nation, the chief point being that the duty should be as low as would 
be sufficient only to meet the Government's regular expenditures. 



THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 51 

On the approach of summer, with the new tariff pending in Con- 
gress, the trade in wool slackened and prices became slightly lower. 
On June 1 interest seemed somewhat revived, but only temporarily. 

The tariff of 1846 was passed on the 30th of July and the reduc- 
tion in duties effectually stopped an active trade in wool. This tariff 
provided for a 30 per cent ad valorem duty upon wool of all de- 
scriptions and upon most manufactures of wool. It also inaugurated 
the warehouse and the independent treasury systems. The former 
provided that duties should be paid in cash, and that goods might 
be deposited in the public stores, subject to the order of the owner, 
for one year, upon the payment of duties; that goods in bond might 
be transported to any other port of entry, and made other provisions 
designed to facilitate the operations of commerce. The independent 
treasury system provided for the collection of duties in gold and 
silver only. 

INJURIES FROM INJUDICIOUS TARIFFS, 1846-1857. 

One of the most notable and disastrous effects of the tariff of" 
1846 was the temporary destruction of fine cloth manufacture and 
therefore fine wool growing. This was brought about by discriminat- 
ing influences. A uniform ad valorem duty of 30 per cent was levied 
upon wools of all descriptions, while the reduction of duties upon 
cloths brought about a condition where fine broadcloth could not be 
produced in this country at a price anywhere near the cost of im- 
ported goods. The duty on wool more than offset the duty upon 
goods, and where home-grown wool would not fully supply the de- 
mands of home consumption, this particular branch of the industry 
was naturally forced into idleness by the foreign goods which over- 
ran the American markets. 

At the time the law of 1846 was passed there were about 1,800 
looms in the country employed in the manufacture of broadcloth. 
Of these almost all were included in New England factories. Upon 
the enactment of the new tariff foreign mills began to send fine 
broadcloths into the United States in large quantities, which after 
paying the duty greatly undersold those of American production. 
Presently all of the 1,800 looms went out of operation or were em- 
ployed on inferior grades of goods and the demand for fine Saxony 
wool ceased. On the other hand the manufactures of the common 
domestic wool were unaffected by the unequal tariff and responded 
to the peculiar commercial conditions of the period. 

A PERNICIOUS POLICY. 

The tariff of 1846 stood for the free-trade policy. It was put into 
operation mainly through the efforts of the representatives of the 
cotton-growing States of the South, who believed that a system of 
universal free trade was most advantageous to their interests. This 
tariff reduced the rates to the lowest point subsequent to the tariff 
of 1824, and, all in all, was one of the most pernicious policies put 
into practice in the history of the country. 

In the first place, in its semblance of a tariff for revenue only — that 
is, to meet the expenditures of the Government without extending 
discriminating protection — it scored signal failure. At the end of 



52 THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

the eleven years of its operation the public debt of the country had 
increased from $15,550,200 to $44,911,811.03; the expenditures during 
the eleven years having exceeded the revenue by $21,791,805, notwith- 
standing conditions that greatly stimulated the foreign and domestic 
commerce of the country. 

Two great influences were at work during this period, which, if 
further assisted by equitable tariff measures might have rendered the 
time one of almost unprecedented prosperity to the United States. 
Peace was made with the Mexicans in February, 1848. In the latter 
part of the following year the gold discoveries in the far West took 
place and stimulated internal commerce to an extraordinary degree. 
At the same time the failure of the crops in Europe created a de- 
mand for our agricultural products of a food nature, and with ex- 
portations of gold largely increased our export and import trade. 
Along with the enhanced profit in agricultural pursuits domestic 
manufactures, whose growth was not impeded by the revisions in the 
tariff laws, were stimulated also and their operation was attended by 
uniform success. 

BUSINESS CHANGES. 

During these last few years there had been several changes in the 
Boston wool trade of a nature that clearly reflected its expansion 
and the increased opportunities it afforded for successful commercial 
operations. Bush & Wildes, who had formed a partnership in the 
wool business in 1846, had retired two years later. W. D. Coolidge, 
a commission merchant, took up wool selling in 1847, as did also 
Reed, Hurd & Co., which latter firm included William Hilton. Steele, 
Dexter & Co. became in 1847 Steele, Anderson & Stanfield, and in 
1848 dissolved partnership, retiring from the wool business. The 
only other changes in 1847 were the retirement of John Stearns in 
the latter part of the year, and the entrance into the trade of William 
Capen, a boot, shoe, and leather dealer, who returned to his last after 
two years' experience in wool, and the admission of James Vila, jr., 
into partnership with his father, the pioneer handler of wool in 
Boston. 

In 1850 the wool trade of Boston comprised 15 distinct houses. 
George William Bond had, on the death of his father, George Bond, 
in 1842, continued the commission business with his brother, Charles 
R. Bond, until 1846. In this year he associated with him in the same 
business Edward Wyman and P. Arklay. In 1848 Mr. Bond entered 
alone upon the almost untried business of wool brokerage of 78 State 
street, and in 1850 was established at 55 Kilby street. Clark, Brig- 
ham & Co., at 4 Chatham street, were also commission merchants who 
had become interested in wool. W. D. Coolidge was this year at 34 
Pearl street, and Davis & Aubin at 85 State street. Aaron Erickson 
had entered the wool trade in 1847. In 1849 he took George Tread- 
well into partnership, and in 1850 they were doing business at 54 
Pearl street. The house of Reed, Hurd & Co. was dissolved in 1847. 
The next year and in 1850 William Hilton was engaged in the wool 
business alone, Jeremiah Hurd had taken Luke K. Bowers into part- 
nership on the dismemberment of the old firm, and Lyman Reed 
continued the business with Lucius Reed. 



THE WOOL TEADE OE THE UNITED STATES. 



53 



In 1850 William Hilton was at 97J State street ; Hurd, Bowers & 
Birchard at 33 Broad street and 114 State street, and Lyman Keed 
& Co. at 29 Broad street. Hugh R. Kendall was this year at 61 Water 
street and the house of G. & E. M. Livermore at 36 Pearl street. 
Josiah Perham, jr., in 1849 was at 4 Liberty square, Benjamin C. 
Sewall having taken Perham's father's place in the firm in 1848 and 
retired the year following. In the latter part of 1849 Perham( 
dropped the wool business to become proprietor of the " Seven Mile 
Mirror." 

In 1850 C. S. Fowle, who had earlier been with Samuel G. Thorn 
in the hardware business, came into the trade at 97-J State street. 
Shadrach S. Pearce had retired from business in 1848. Proctor, 
Rice & Co., Moody S. Proctor and Franklin and Freeman Rice, for- 
merly goods merchants, assumed wool interests in 1848. In 1849 
Proctor retired to become proprietor of the Marlboro Hotel at 229 
Washington street, and in 1850 the house of F. & F. Rice was at 
118 State street. T. B. Townsend & Son, who were perhaps the most 
prominent dealers of that period, were still at 23 Central street. 
James Vila & Co. were at 1 Bath street ; and William Whitney & Co., 
James M. Howe having been admitted into partnership in the latter 
part of 1848, were at 13 Liberty square. 



THE VOLUME OF TRADE. 



The volume of the wool trade at Boston, and by comparison that 
of the whole country, are shown by the following table of imports. 
The quantity of domestic wool showed a steady decrease for several 
years subsequent to the enactment of the tariff of 1846. The effect 
of the gold discoveries upon general commerce in 1849, stimulating 
the manufacturing industry, is reflected in the rapidly increased 
imports of home-grown wools. The imports of foreign wools show 
considerable yearly fluctuation, corresponding in the main to the 
varying quantities of domestic wools. 

The table, presenting comparisons for the year of the tariff and 
six years ensuing, is as follows : 

Imports into Boston. 



Year. 


Domestic. 


Foreign. 


Bales. 


Bales. 


Quintals. 


1846 


24, 272 
19, 618 
17, 698 
23, 808 
26, 247 
28, 535 
30,336 


7, 253 
4,759 
17, 707 
14, 815 
18, 174 
26, 656 
12, 249 


17, 091 


1847 


26, 630 


1848 


11, 425 


1849 


6,000 


1850 


11, 631 


1851 


17, 856 


1852 


19, 026 


' 





The tariff of 1846 favored wool growing more than any other 
branch of the industry, yet if such was its design, it was unsuccessful 
even in this measure. The raw wool of the country may be placed 
behind a protective barrier that will admit no competitor. But if the 
manufacture is not equally secured and is permitted to become sub- 



54 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ject to the enervation of foreign competition, then wool itself is not 
fully protected, since with the lessened operation of the manufac- 
tories the market for the raw material becomes restricted and the 
result is the same as if both wool and goods were admitted free. In- 
deed, an unequal tariff is dangerous to the industry, and unless its 
provisions are so drawn as to supply the same proportionate protec- 
tion to wool manufacture as to wool growing, soon both will reach 
the condition first threatened the one. 

It was injudiciously assumed in the tariff of 1846 that the same ad 
valorem rate upon wool unmanufactured and cloths would exert 
equal protection upon both. But such, for apparently obvious rea- 
sons, did not prove to be correct. 

EFFECT OF THE TARIFF. 

The price of wool in the United States very shortly rose to a point 
commensurate with the protection of a 30 per cent duty. And when 
this increased cost of the raw material was added to the other ex- 
penses to manufacture it was found that the 30 per cent duty upon 
imported goods had been so nearly balanced that certain qualities of 
goods of domestic production were entirely superseded by the influx 
of lower-priced foreign articles of wear. The prices of wool were 
sustained by the comparatively light supply available and the main- 
tenance of certain classes of wool manufacture, assisted further by 
the peculiar commercial conditions of that day. 

Yet the margin of profit for all manufacturers of wool was small. 
After eleven years of hard competition, of beggarly returns, and in 
instances of absolute ruin, they succeeded in securing a tariff which 
served to remove the glove from one hand only to place it upon the 
other. 

In recent years some of the older manufacturers are wont to refer 
to the tariff of 1857 as the most favorable of the early tariffs under 
which they labored. In comparison with the preceding bill it was 
undoubtedly of especial benefit to them; but disturbed by the 
financial panic of that year and the succeeding months of depression 
and disquiet and with the cloud of rebellion breaking over the coun- 
try, commercial conditions were not such as to give the best exposi- 
tions of the act's merits or demerits. 

the panic or 1857. 1857—1858. 

The year of 1857 marked a turning point in the wool-manufactur- 
ing industry. Prior to that time it had risen to a certain point in the 
scale of national industrial importance, which was not particularly 
eminent. It supplied one-half the country's wants in certain periods, 
and in time of war it even achieved greater prominence, but beyond 
this point it did not appear capable of progressing. It was in turn 
fostered and hampered by judicious and futile tariffs. Manufactories 
abroad from the first of the century were practically twenty-five years 
advanced in development over domestic productive plants, and, 
although the gap was gradually being lessened, American factories 
were too lightly capitalized or were too susceptible to the e^er-ehang- 
ing conditions of commerce to make such rapid progress as the possi- 
bilities of the industry afforded. 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 55 

In 1857 occurred the severest financial and commercial convulsion 
that this country had ever experienced. In this disaster many wool- 
manufacturing enterprises perished in common with the numerous 
fatalities in other lines of industry and commerce. But from the 
chaotic conditions of ruin the industry emerged more sound in char- 
acter, more practical in operation, and better able to extend its facili- 
ties to meet the demand which the country held for it. 

The panic of 1857, while swift in its devastation, was not imme- 
diately engendered. It marked a periodical prostration in business 
which recurs in this country on an invariable cycle of about a score 
of years. The events and conditions which led up to this crash and 
made it possible were in some instances quite remote in origin from 
its actual ensuance. 

XIV. 

The tariff of 1846 was undoubtedly a factor of importance in regu- 
lating the country's commerce in such manner as to establish a condi- 
tion of unbalanced foreign trade. This tariff instituted an obnoxious 
form of the ad valorem duties, which were unequal in their operation. 
Moreover, the low rates of customs upon many articles of merchan- 
dise stimulated importations to an excessive 'degree, not only injur- 
ing domestic industries in need of protection, but creating an enor- 
mous balance of trade against our merchants. Thus the value of 
importations into the United States had increased in 1857, as com- 
pared with 1845, $243,636,000. This tariff had been framed largely 
in the interests of American cotton handlers, who fallaciously held 
that such a condition of domestic commerce would militate to their 
greatest advantage. The enormous volume of commerce coming to 
the United States through the operation during eleven years of the 
tariff of 1846 was in part offset in 1847 and a few years subsequent by 
the great demand for American breadstuffs, created by the famine 
in Ireland and the want in continental Europe. 

EFFECT OF GOLD DISCOVERIES. 

The great discoveries of gold in California and in Australia about 
the middle of the century stimulated the commerce of the world to 
an unprecedented extent, which was further augmented by the ex- 
ploitation of the vast deposits of guano in the Chincha Islands at a 
time when agriculture abroad and in this country was in especial 
need of such fertilization. Through these agencies the commerce and 
carrying trade, particularly of America, were wonderfully increased. 
At once the style and capacity of our ships were changed, and ship- 
building was pursued on an extensive scale. From 1846 to 1856 the 
tonnage of vessels sailing under our flag increased 2,309,567 tons, 
or nearly 92 per cent. 

Our close commercial alliance with Great Britain gained us an 
enormous traffic between our own ports and British colonies and in 
the India and China carrying trade to Europe as well as to America. 
Our participation in this commerce was the means also for greatly 
increasing importations into our own country. Vessels landing large 
and profitable cargoes brought from Atlantic ports to San Francisco, 
sailed thence to the waters of the Far East, touching at Manila and 



56 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

at Chinese and Indian ports. Many had embarked in this traffic, 
and the competition which was early awakened reduced freights to 
so low a point that merchants engaged in the trade of the Far East 
were induced to send goods to this country in much larger quantities 
than the actual market demand warranted. 

The rush to the California gold fields, which rapidly populated 
that territory, deprived the East of large numbers of its workmen 
and raised the price of labor all over the country. The influx of gold 
changed, moreover, the existing values of all sorts of property and 
encouraged the expansion of bank loans and issues and the extension 
of individual credit. This tendency naturally induced a spirit of 
speculation and overtrading which raised prices of all commodities 
to an untenable plane. Moreover, the war in the Crimea offered an 
additional stimulus to commercial activity, demanding also a large 
amount of tonnage for transports, which, employing chiefly English 
ships, diverted to American vessels trade from India and China to 
Great Britain. The financial condition of England and France were 
considerably disturbed by the withdrawal of extensive sums of money 
and of productive labor from the usual channels of commerce to 
carry on the war, and through our intimate relations with these coun- 
tries our own finance was affected by the same causes. 

The high prices commanded by the staple products of our own 
country and by imported merchandise necessitated a larger capital 
than formerly in their manipulation. This was especially true in the 
case of cottons, where this difficulty was augmented by successively 
short crops, an unduly stimulated condition of manufacturing inter- 
ests, and the employment of an excessive number of spindles. There 
was also, just prior to 1857, an especially light production of sugar 
in Louisiana, which induced extensive importations and created a 
further balance of trade against us. 

THE CEEDIT SYSTEM. 

The chief factor of disturbing influence upon our national finance 
was, perhaps, an extensive abuse of the credit system. This was 
noticeable in commerce by the withdrawal of vast sums of money in 
railroad and similar enterprises and the creation of an enormous 
floating debt, maintained often at high rates of interest and consti- 
tuting an important item in our foreign debt which included the bal- 
ance of trade against our merchants and the investment of foreign 
capital in American securities. Manufacturing enterprises were, 
moreover, being conducted on an inadequate capital, absorbing large 
sums of money by purchasing extensive supplies of raw material in 
advance of productive needs (thereby furnishing speculators with 
capital to trade on the turn of prices — to the manufacturers' disad- 
vantage) and selling goods on unnecessarily long credits. 

The banking system was a further menace to credits. Banks were 
endowed by the Government with the right to issue a paper currency 
based on specie deposits and intended to be convertible into specie. 
Acting under the stimulus to nearly all branches of commerce and 
industry then prominently in evidence, banks generally carried their 
loans far too high and overissued notes on small specie deposits. 
When the first stricture in linn nee became evident, the system of 
"demand" loans, then shortly in vogue, precipitated financial stress, 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 

which early induced the suspension of specie payment. The shock 
which followed affected not only American and European cities, but 
extended as well to China and to India. It was soon followed in this 
country by large accumulations of moneyed capital and specie depos- 
its, excess of tonnage, suspension of manufacturing establishments, a 
Burfeit of unsalable merchandise, rapid decline in the price of labor, 
and emigration from East to West. 

The wool market during 1856 and 1857 was in considerable meas- 
ure dominated by the conditions prevailing in the general commerce 
of the country. Wool manufacture under the tariff of 1846 was 
profitable only to the extent that the stimulated condition of trade 
was able to offset the adverse conditions created by the tariff in the 
domestic goods market. Fine wool manufacture had received a set- 
back and there had followed in consequence a diminution in the flocks 
of fine fleece-bearing sheep. There had been speculation in wool as 
in other commodities, and prices were not always obedient to the 
strength of the immediate demand. The financial crisis had not been 
precipitated until the latter part of 1857, so that during this time 
speculation and overtrading were at their height. 

SPECULATION IN IMPORTATIONS. 

Importations from foreign sources comprised practically one-half 
of the country's production of goods, and by that year accumulations 
were being made in storehouses, handlers trading on the turn of 
prices and for future wants regardless of the present danger of sur- 
feit. Although manufacturers were too lightly capitalized to carry 
on their extensive operations under normal conditions of trade, they 
had become accustomed to purchasing their raw material in advance 
of their needs, borrowing large sums at current high rates of interest 
to conduct this part of their operations, and were used also to dis- 
pose of their goods at long dating, often six to eight months, and even 
for a longer period of credit. Their financial balances were, there- 
fore, not frequently adjusted, and overtrading was easily accom- 
plished. 

The light supply of wool at the beginning of the year 1856 en- 
hanced wool values and induced a steady advance in price on stock 
held in the local market. Speculative buying was somewhat in evi- 
dence, prices advancing from the first of the year to April about 5 
cents per pound. A slight reaction followed as wool began to be 
sent in from the country, and some few manufacturers, pinched by 
competition and already fearing difficulties in the discouraging pros- 
pects, placed their stocks upon the market for resale. There was, 
however, little unmanufactured old stock on hand, and most manu- 
facturers, who saw the only exit from their difficulties in continuing 
their operations, went into the country and bought direct from the 
growers, at the current high prices. 

With. high prices established in the growing sections dealers were 
promised little obvious profit, and in consequence less wool than 
usual came forward to the eastern markets for sale early in the sea- 
son. Soon, however, an apparent short supply, with rising prices, 
encouraged merchants to bring forward the bulk of the clip and by 
the close of the year an average supply was on hand, consisting in 



58 



THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



the local market of about 900,000 pounds of fleeces and 300,000 
pounds of pulled wool. The clip for the year was small, owing to a 
severe winter and extensive slaughter. 

The clip of 1850 was estimated by the Department of Agriculture 
at a little over 52,000,000 pounds. It was this year privately reck- 
oned at about 45,000,000 pounds. Fleeces were in light supply outside 
of the markets, amounting altogether to about 6,000,000 pounds, while 
pulled wool was in less quantity than in the preceding year. It was 
feared, therefore, that a scarcity would be experienced unless the 
importations of clothing wool would prove sufficient for domestic 
wants. 

A SPECULATIVE ERA. 

The spirit of speculation appeared to have struck all places and all 
commodities. Orders sent to Buenos Ayres for wool developed the 
fact that nearly the whole clip had been contracted for at high prices, 
principally for French and Belgian markets. Furthermore, the high 
prices which prevailed in European markets probably restricted 
importations here from other sources. The importations of foreign 
compared with the two years preceding 1857, stocks at Boston were 



England 

Buenos Ayres..... 

Turkey in Asia 

Peru and Chile . . . 
All others 

Total Boston 
New York 



1853. 



Pounds. 
1, 973, 890 
2, 950, 297 
4, 013, 340 
2, 564, 561 
2, 849, 553 



14, 351, 641 
12, 878, 536 



1854. 



Poimds. 
1, 031, 879 
3, 903, 936 
3, 951, 544 
2, 533, 609 
1, 977, 535 



13, 398, 503 
10, 011, 840 



1855. 



Pounds. 
325, 529 
970, 810 
2, 963, 798 
2, 402, 601 
2, 583, 258 



7, 245, 996 
4, 790, 802 



1856. 



Pounds. 

41,395 

1, 883, 125 

2, 505, 590 

3,211,467 

784, 230 



8, 425, 807 



This table shows an increase in the importations of 1856 over those 
of 1855 of about 1,200.000 pounds, but a decrease from 1854 of nearly 
5,000,000 pounds, from 1853 of about 6,000,000 pounds, and from the 
average of three years preceding and including 1855 of about 4,000,000 
pounds. The stock on hand on January 1, 1857, was very low. As 
compared with the two years preceding, 1857 stocks at Boston were 
as follows: 





January, 1855. 


January, 1856. 


January, 1857. 




Bales. 


Pounds. 


Bales. 


Pounds. 


Bales. 


Pounds. 


Smyrna, Donskoi, etc 


9.050 
2,120 

6, 194 


3, 500, 000 
1, 500, 000 

2, 200, 000 


4,530 
393 

3,580 


1,750,000 
270, 000 

1.3S0.000 


1,557 
213 

531 


580, 000 


Buenos Ayres 


140, 000 


Valparaiso, Chile, Peruvian, East 
Indian, Africa, Cape 


420, 000 








Total Boston 


17,364 


7, 200, 000 


8, 503 3. 400. 000 


2, 301 


1,140,000 


New York 


7,504 




2,271 















It will be seen by this showing that there was a marked decrease 
in the stock of foreign as well as of domestic wool. This lessened 
supply, yet serving to meet current demands, reflected a material fall- 
ing off in the consumption of wool and consequently in the domestic 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 

manufacture of goods. Importations of foreign manufactures were, 
on the other hand, increasing rapidly, proving the incapacity of the 
tariff of 1846 to afford protection either to wool growing or to wool 
manufacture. The annual average consumption of wool for some 
years previous to 1856 was figured at about 81,000,000 pounds. For 
1856 it was estimated to be considerably less ; thus, stock on hand 
January 1, 1856, domestic and foreign, amounted to 16,000,000 
pounds; clip of 1856, about 45,000,000; pulled during the year, 
8,000,000 ; and importations, 14,000,000 ; a total of 83,000,000 pounds 
less. Stock of all kinds on hand January 1, 1857, 10,000,000, snowing 
net available offerings for consumption during 1856 of 73,000,000 
pounds. 

The first half of the year 1857 was dominated by the expected tar- 
iff changes, the latter by the panic. Under the tariff of 1857 wool 
costing less than 20 cents per pound was to be admitted free of duty ; 
Thibet, Angora, etc., costing over 20 cents, at 15 per cent ad valorem; 
and all other wools costing over 20 cents per pound, at 24 per cent ad 
valorem. In consequence of the pending tariff, which promised to 
render foreign markets available to American purchasers, prices of 
wool abroad at once rose, in the markets of production, far beyond 
the duty, and in some cases above the cost value of wool in the con- 
sumptive markets of Europe. 

In this country importers held their wool in bond to await the 
reduction in duty, and immediately available stocks commanded, 
therefore, higher prices. Buying of foreign woolen goods was stimu- 
lated by the expected reduction in duty (from 30 to 24 per cent ad 
valorem) , and the warehouses soon became stocked with goods waiting 
the advent of the lower duty before entering our markets. In view 
of this fact, it was expected that lower prices would rule for goods 
after the 1st of July, when the new tariff was to go into operation. 

XV. 

With high prices for wool and with discouraging prospects in the 
goods market many manufacturers greatly reduced their production, 
thereby avoiding a possible shortage in the supply of raw material. 

Despite the first rise in wool values, it was expected that prices must 
ultimately decline in sympathy with the falling off in the price of 
goods. This was true when the first purchases were made in the 
country at a decline from the high prices of the spring, but, on ac- 
count of bare stocks and need for wool, manufacturers were obliged 
to go into the country, where their purchases soon started a spirit of 
speculation which prevailed with rising prices during the latter part 
of July and August until the financial crisis and the attendant wide- 
spread disaster in commercial circles completely deprived the market 
of its strength. 

No division of commercial or manufacturing industry was more 
susceptible to the changes which ensued than that of wool manu- 
facture. Stocks of goods of domestic production and imported were 
in large supply in the markets, while manufacturers had just pur- 
chased their wool at the high prices induced by speculation. Further 
than this, warehouses were loaded with foreign woolens. Manufac- 
turers were invariably running under an altogether inadequate cap- 
italization. When the crash ensued, many of. the most prominent 



60 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

corporations failed, while others were badly crippled and obliged 
either to suspend temporarily or to curtail their production. As a 
consequence, trade in wool was practically suspended from the middle 
of September to the close of the year, prices declining from 25 to 
33J per cent in most cases, and in some instances even more. 

The tariff, which had been framed to the expected advantage of the 
manufacturer and only indirectly for the benefit of the woolgrower, 
had thus far alone benefited the latter. This was made possible by 
the peculiar conditions then prevailing and particularly by the specu- 
lative activity in the wool induced by light stocks, small available 
offerings, and the apparent necessity of manufacturers to obtain their 
wool as early as possible. 

The tariff of 1857 was the result of wisdom drawn from many dis- 
astrous experiences. A low duty was placed on wool to enable 
domestic manufacturers to obtain their raw material at as small cost 
and in as desirable and extensive selection as did foreign makers of 
goods. With a reduced cost in production manufacturers were ex- 
pected soon to command more than one-half of home markets for 
their goods, and with an increased consumption of their products the 
need for wool should expand and become more stable in volume, 
thereby affording the domestic growers a better and more extensive 
market. 

The importations of foreign wool into Boston during 1857 were as 
follows : 

Pounds. 
England 1, 488, 987 

Buenos Ayres 4, 720, 063 

Turkey in Asia 572, 114 

Peru and Chile 1,408,863 

All others 1,993,465 

Total 10, 183, 492 

The stocks in the local market at the close of the year were about 
900,000 pounds of fleeces. Total stocks in the markets and in the 
country made available for sale about 10,000,000 pounds of domestic 
wools. The table of imports shows an increase over the preceding 
year of nearly 2,000,000 pounds, due almost wholly to the tariff reduc- 
tion. In the total imports to the United States there were included 
over 3,000,000 pounds from England, as compared with about 300,000 
the year previous. However, of this quantity about two-thirds were 
returned and there was further reexported enough of other wools to 
balance these figures for the two years. 

From Buenos Ayres the imports to this country were not materially 
increased, owing to the high prices which prevailed in that market 
and the earlier sales of wool to foreign purchasers. The imports 
from Turkev were larger than ever before, being more than double 
the quantity for 1856. The imports from Russia were not large, as 
the wool trade with that country was then in its infancy. Imports 
of Cape of Good Hope wools were gradually increasing and the 
quality of the wool was becoming more popular. 

RECOVERY FROM COMMERCIAL UPHEAVAL 1858-1864. 

In the year 1858 there was a recovery from the commercial up- 
heaval from the preceding fall. In the wool-manufacturing industry 
the strain had been especially severe, reducing many establishments 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 61 

to a temporary suspension of their operation and greatly restricting 
the production of all. The year opened with a light available supply 
of wool in the local market. Manufacturers were very gradually 
rising from the ruin by which they had been encompassed, and the 
demand for the raw material took on strength very slowly. 

Notwithstanding a restricted use of the staple in the early months 
of the year, the stock was yet so limited that prices gradually strength- 
ened and advanced from the low level to which they had plunged in 
the panic's maelstrom. The rise, however, was not material until 
reports came to this country of a marked advance in the London 
auction sales of July and August, even in the face of the compara- 
tively large offerings of 80,000 bales. 

From this time on values steadily enhanced as the increased re- 
sumption of production emphasized more clearly the scarcity of wool. 
At the close of the year prices stood fully 50 per cent higher than at 
its beginning. By that time a large proportion oi the factories 
which were forced into idleness by the panic had either resumed 
operations or were being prepared for an active employment of their 
machine^. 

By the beginning of 1859 manufacturers were but just recovering 
from the effects of the crisis and were putting their machinery gener- 
ally in operation. The stock of wools with which to begin the year's 
production was unusually limited and prices were correspondingly 
high. It was now the first time that manufacturers began to feel the 
influence of the tariff, unhampered by an excited condition of the 
country's finance and commerce. The tariff of 1857, as has been 
noted, laid a duty of 24 per cent ad valorem upon all wools costing 
over 20 cents per pound in the markets of their exportation, with the 
exception of Angora, Thibet, etc., upon which the duty was 15 per 
cent. All wools costing less than 20 were included in the list pro- 
viding free entry. Thus a great abundance of fine wools began to be 
brought into the country by manufacturers in their unwashed, greasy 
state, since washed or scoured wools would be subjected to the maxi- 
mum rate of duty. 

In contradistinction to the tariff of 1846 the later tariff stimulated 
fine-wool manufacture, and, indeed, worked to the great advantage 
of the whole wool industry. 

The prices of fine wool, which had risen to a very high level, were 
maintained throughout the year by the steady demand for these 
qualities. On the other hand, the prices of low grades of wool de- 
clined about 10 per cent during the twelve months. This latter result 
was brought about by very free importations, both of wool of this 
quality and of goods manufactured from like grades. There were 
very large stocks of medium and coarse wools in European markets, 
obtainable at less than current prices in the markets of their produc- 
tion and so much less than in this country that large quantities were 
purchased for importation here. 

Under the ability of obtaining fine foreign wool, unwashed, at a 
comparatively low cost, domestic manufacturers found themselves 
able to supply home wants ahead of their foreign competitors. Dur- 
ing the year the importations of duffets, kerseymeres, etc., made 
principally from fine wools, were about one-half as much as in 1857 
and only a little more than in 1858. On the other hand, the importa- 



62 



THE WOOL TRADE OE THE UNITED STATES. 



tions of mixed stuns, flannels, blankets, and carpets, in the manufac- 
ture of which wools of medium grades were mostly used, were about 
50 per cent more than in either of two years preceding. At this time 
the clips of California and Texas were just coming into prominence, 
the former amounting to nearly 3,000,000 pounds. 

The imports of wool in 1859 into the local market were the largest 
up to that year. The increase was mainly in fine, unwashed, burry 
wools from Buenos Aires and the Cape of Good Hope. Wools com- 
monly imported from England, France, Spain, and the East Indies 
were mostly of low and medium grades. The fine, unwashed wool, to 
cost less than 20 cents in port of embarkation, were frequently burry 
and very heavy, shrinking as high as 80 per cent before coming to the 
cards. The importations of carpet wools were in 1859 less than in 
any year since 1852, and perhaps earlier than that. The stock at the 
close of the year was smaller than for five years preceding, and the 
new year was begun with more machinery in operation than for 
several seasons back, yet prices were no higher than in the year 
previous and but little above the average of the two past years. The 
imports of wool into Boston for 1858 and 1859 were as follows : 



1858. 



1859. 



England 

Buenos Aires 

Turkey 

Cape 

Peru and Chile 

France 

All others 

Total, Boston . . . 
Total, New York 



Pounds. 


Pounds. 


1, 162, 808 


1,971,852 


1, 643, 857 


3, 620, 167 


2,011,792 


2, 881, 283 


1, 984, 372 


4, 454, 590 


3, 578, 446 


2, 833, 641 


22, 053 


1,056,695 


147, 521 


1,359,150 


10, 550, 849 


18, 177, 378 


6, 987, 189 


19, 697, 025 



Boston was rapidly coming into prominence as one of the chief 
markets for the distribution of the raw material. From its position 
in the center of the chief manufacturing section of the country it 
early eclipsed its rivals in the wool trade in New York and Pennsyl- 
vania. The following table presents a comparison between the num- 
ber and size of the manufactories located in New England and in 
New York State. It will be seen that there were then in the New 
v England States 447 plants having 2,074 sets. 





Maine. 


New 
Hamp- 
shire. 


Ver- 
mont. 


Massa- 
chusetts. 


Connecti- 
cut. 


Rhode 
Island. 


New- 
York. 


Satinets 


9 

28 


3 

40 


22 
44 


165 

285 

82 

30 

76 

185 

67 

62 

5 

10 

14 


112 
95 


33 
82 


30 


Cassimeres 


103 


Cotton warp cloth, carpet. . 


31 


Stocking varn and hosiery 


6 


12 
10 
81 
58 
2 
4 


6 
11 


74 


8 


33 


Worsted and woolen yarn . . 




Flannels and blankets 


408 


19 


33 


Delaine . 




Carpets 




70 




74 


Cashmeretts 






Shawls . . 






7 


26 


Felting 








30 




Negro cloths and jeans 








53 
42 

225 
56 




Linscys dometts 

















8 
91 
32 


18 

228 

56 


39 
122 

56 


18 
999 


9 

409 

93 


1 48 


Number of sets 


468 


Number of establishments 


208 







THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 

Notwithstanding the increased imports during 1859, they were 
hardly sufficient to meet the demand for consumption. Low and 
medium wools remained comparatively dull and heavy, while the 
activity in fine foreign wools depleted the available supply and 
obliged manufacturers to go into the country for more wool in the 
new clip season in 1860. There a keen buying competition forced 
prices above the level which had ruled in the growing section in the 
preceding year, and even higher than those current in the eastern 
markets. 

There was, however, little demand for the finest grades of domestic 
wools, as these were especially suited for use in the manufacture of 
spring goods, upon which manufacturers usually changed in Septem- 
ber or October. The fine foreign wools were best adapted for heavy 
goods, with which some grades of domestics were mixed. In 1860 
there was an exceptionally good demand for heavy woolens in winter 
styles, and assured of an extensive sale of these goods, most manufac- 
turers had not changed their looms to the production of light weights, 
when, in the middle of November, the political crisis restricted all 
business operations. The goods market was thus suddenly changed 
from greatest activity into almost a panic, and the mills, holding 
large stocks of wool, of the kind that had been used during the 
greater part of the year, not wishing to increase their obligations, 
continued almost without exception on the manufacture of the heavy 
goods. Low and medium grade domestic wools were in better demand 
throughout the year, while similar qualities of foreign wools were 
increasing in demand, when general business was stopped. The Cali- 
fornia clip had increased during the past year. These wools had 
heretofore been brought chiefly to New York, but a direct packet line 
between San Francisco and Boston had now been established by 
Glidden & Williams, by which much of the wool was being brought 
to the local market. 

As the political crisis became more clearly assured of a tempestuous 
outbreak, business of all kinds was pursued on the most economical 
and conservative basis. Interests were frequently neglected, and 
when the war cloud finally burst trade everywhere became stagnant. 
The first recovery was made, naturally, by those industries upon 
whose product the necessities of the war were dependent. The de- 
mand for army clothing started the whole productive facilities of the 
North into active operation. Woolen mills were taxed to their utmost 
capacity, and the necessity for producing the goods demanded, in 
large supply and at little loss of time, induced some manufacturers of 
cottons, particularly in Pennsylvania, to convert their plants into 
woolen mills. 

XVI. 

Most of the machinery in the country was run overtime, sometimes 
day and night, and often on Sundays. For this reason there were 
more woolen goods produced for government purposes during the last 
three months of 1861 than had ever been manufactured during the 
same time for the whole country's needs. Such activity in the manu- 
facture of army clothing brought into requisition the country's whole 
available supply of wool that was suited for this use. With the rapid 
depletion of these grades, low and medium, of home growth, prices 
showed an equally rapid advance, which, from 27 and 33 cents in 



64 THE WOOL TEADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

August, rose to 50 and 55 cents in October, maintaining this level until 
the close of the year. 

Fine wools had remained on a rather low basis during the greater 
part of the year. In the fall, purchases were made of these qualities 
for speculative purposes, and prices strengthened accordingly. There 
was, at the time, no actual consumptive demand for the finer grades 
of domestic wool, as the class of goods upon which all the machinery 
in the country was employed used nothing but the coarser grades. 
Yet buyers had confidence in the future appreciation of the better 
grades, while the current low prices offered tempting bargains for 
investment. Prices of these wools consequently advanced in response 
to a speculative demand, but notwithstanding the higher level to 
which the value of fine qualities rose, coarse wools for the first and 
only time in our history commanded an actually higher price than 
was obtainable for fine grades. 

ARMY SUPPLIES. 

The market during the year of 1862 was far from tranquil. By 
the first of the year all the demands of the Government for army 
supplies had been met, being the more quickly satisfied because the 
capacity of domestic mills had been underrated and orders for cloth- 
ing in quantity had been sent abroad to supplement home manufac- 
tured stock. When the Government found that the goods were 
actually coming faster than they could be cared for, contracts were 
canceled as far as practicable, and what had grown to be an exceed- 
ingly profitable business was suddenly withdrawn. This caused 
something of a panic among manufacturers and destroyed the market 
for the coarse wools, which had been changing hands at increasingly 
high prices. With a sudden check to consumption of coarse wools 
prices showed a material decline, but by this time stock had been well 
depleted and the new clip season opened with light supplies carried 
over. Thus some manufacturers went into the country, where they 
competed with others, induced thither by the depreciation of the 
currency. Brisk buying very soon ran prices up to as high a plane 
as they had yet reached, while values were still further enhanced by 
the appreciation of gold. 

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1862, the Government pur- 
chased 24.000.000 yards of substitutes for kerseys, requiring for their 
manufacture not less than 30,000,000 pounds of wool. In addition 
to this there were bought 1,458,808 blankets, requiring about 13,000,000 
pounds of wool, while other miscellaneous articles of clothing for 
government purposes demanded about 7,000,000 pounds, making the 
entire consumption of the army about 50.000.000 pounds. A certain 
proportion of these goods were imported from abroad, but the stocks 
drawn from this source that were put into use did not detract mate- 
rially from the share of domestic mills in the total production. 

The wool business in the local market had never been more pros- 
perous than during that of 1862. The quantity of domestic grown 
wool brought to the market for sale exceeded that for any previous 
year. Moreover, the business had been conducted on a profit-making 
basis. The active demand for wool suitable for army clothing — upon 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 65 

the manufacture of which all the machinery of the country was 
employed — made sales easy and influenced rising prices. Conse- 
quently several new ventures were made in the trade, increasing the 
number of houses. Furthermore, the trade began to draw closer 
together, attracted to a recognized center that was most accessible to 
buyers. 

ACCESSIONS TO THE TRADE. 

Among the new firms that were to be found in the trade at the 
beginning of 1863 were Albert Day, at 28 Central street: Aaron 
Erickson, at 174 Congress street, who had returned to the wool busi- 
ness after a few years' absence; Harding Brothers & Co., at 67 Fed- 
eral street; J. & G. McBride & Co., at 57 Water street, who were 
brokers; William S. Sturtevant, at Sturtevant's Wharf; and O. L. 
Ferry, at 174 Congress street. The firm of Tyler & Ryley had been 
dissolved in 1862, each resuming business at once with other partners. 
Ryley took into partnership A. Piatt and R. O. Strong, the firm 
being known as George W. Ryley & Co., having offices at 104 Federal 
street, while Tyler associated with him John Mclnnis and Henry 
Faulkner, the firm being known as Tyler, Mclnnis & Co., doing a 
brokerage business in wool at 122 Congress street. The wool trade 
was then gathered in the district bordered by the streets now known 
as Federal, High, Congress, and Pearl. One or two were yet on 
Kilby street, and James Vila still had his offices at 1 Bath street. 
A number had warehouses or branch offices on Sister street, which 
corresponded with Leather Square of to-day. 

The imports of foreign wool into Boston during 1862 were consider- 
ably above the average, while those into New York were far in excess 
of the average quantity, a portion of which was, however, brought in 
on Boston account. The total imports into the United States were 
estimated at 60,000,000 pounds, but as the largest portion of the wools 
was in an unwashed state, this amount was probably equivalent to 
40,000.000 pounds of domestic wool. 

At the opening of 1863 the woolen manufacturers of the country,, 
having surfeited the market for government supplies, turned their 
machinery onto regular production for the first time in a year and a 
half. Under the circumstances there was afforded an excellent mar- 
ket for goods suitable for general distribution, and full employment 
of machinery created an excellent demand for all descriptions of wool. 
Fine qualities, which had occupied the unique position of command- 
ing lower prices than coarse, strengthened. The available supply of 
raw material then employed by the mills was limited, and with the 
constantly rising gold premium wool values enhanced correspond- 
ingly. Fine foreign wool rose in price as high as 90 cents. This; 
naturally induced a speculative spirit abroad, but the greatest activ- 
ity in speculation was at home, where a depreciating currency in- 
vested holdings with enhanced value. Owing to the strong statis- 
tical position of wool, future supplies were expected to command ex- 
travagant prices. The movement thus inaugurated was in great 
measure responsible for the shortly ensuing tariff bill of 1864 with its 
exorbitantly high rate of duty on raw wools. 

S. Doc. 70, 61-1 5 



66 THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

THE SPIRIT OF SPECULATION. 

Early in the season of 1863 speculators went into the woolgrowing 
section of the country and contracted for the clip on the sheep's back 
at prices that would amount, when the wool was marketed, to nearly 
$1 per pound. During the month of March gold quite unexpectedly 
dropped from 71 to 39 premium, and with this fall the price of wool 
declined. The chief slump in wool values was in foreign stock, of 
which accumulations were large, while the immediately available 
supplies of domestic wool were small, and it was apparent that the 
early purchasers in the country and the growers who had not yet 
disposed of their wool would hold for higher prices. 

With some fluctuations gold declined until the middle of July, 
about the time the new wool was customarily received, when it rose 
to 23 premium. At this level, at the average price of former years, 
it would make wool worth, in the growers' hands, about 50 and 53 
cents. Farmers and the speculators absolutely refused this price, so 
that manufacturers were obliged to load up with fine foreign stocks. 
By the middle of October farmers became in need of realizing their 
holdings, and encouraged by the further rise in gold, and the needs 
of delaine manufacturers, a brisk trade was awakened which absorbed 
practically the whole of the clip. However, on account of the late- 
ness of the season and obstacles to transportation, only a small 
amount of wool actually came forward and was put into consump- 
tion, and with large foreign stocks available as well, the supply for 
the coming season was unusually heavy, foreboding weakening prices. 

The woolen manufacturers of the country did not resume the pro- 
duction of regular goods until about a year and a half after the 
tariff of 1861 went into operation, so that in this time the tariff actu- 
ally exerted little material influence upon the industry. Toward the 
close of 1862, however, with the resumption of the customary lines of 
production, manufacturers experienced the benefits which the tariff 
was planned to create. During the period from July, 1862. to the 
close of the year of 1863, it was estimated that 1,000 sets of woolen 
machinery were added to the productive power of the North. 

THE INDUSTRY BOOMING. 

With the beginning of the year 1864 a large class of farmers, mer- 
chants, and speculators found themselves with an extensive supply 
of raw wool on their hands, which had been bought or carried at a 
high cost. To relieve themselves of this burden an extravagantly 
high tariff was agitated. On the 8th of April a report by the Com- 
mittee on Manufactures, recommending extreme rates of duty, in- 
duced manufacturers to buy stock at current rates, thus relieving first 
holders of extensive losses. A large quantity of wool changed hands 
at no material rise in prices until on June 30 the tariff bill of 1864, 
embodying tin 1 anticipated high imposts, became a law. When 
the clip had been sold in the preceding fall prices averaged about 
75 and 80 cents in tlic country, which reduced to the current value of 
gold was equal to about 30 and 40 cents. It was at these prices that 
manufacturers had supplied themselves, but merchants, in expecta- 
tion of an advance from the tariff equal to 10 cents per pound, 



THE WOOL TRADE OE THE UNITED STATES. 



67 



bought blindly, and prices advanced to about $1 per pound without 
regard to quality or condition. 

The utmost speculative activity prevailed, buoyed up solely by 
assumed values of wool, and the year closed with the industry risen 
to unusual prestige. Much money was expended in establishing new 
plants or increasing old manufactories, while investments were being 
made in machinery for the production of worsted goods, of which 
more than 50,000,000 yards were annually imported from Great 
Britain alone. 

The tariff of 1864 established the following rates on wool : Of the 
value of 12 cents or less, 3 cents per pound; over 12 cents and not 
over 24 cents, 6 cents per pound ; over 24 cents and not over 32 cents, 
10 cents per pound and 10 per cent ad valorem; over 32 cents, 12 
cents per pound and 10 per cent acl valorem; scoured, treble the 
amount of duty. Sheepskins with wool on, 20 per cent. 

EFFECT OF THE CIVIL WAR, 1865-1ST0. 

The civil war formed an epoch in the wool industry as well as in 
the political history of the country and in other commercial and in- 
dustrial pursuits. It gave rise to a peculiar trade and to a unique 
condition of business. Toward the close of the war results which 
naturally followed the presence of an abnormal situation were more 
clearly developed, but the movement inaugurated did not reach a 
turning point until some time after the cessation of hostilities. 

During the first half of 1865, the last year of conflict, the wool 
trade progressed on much the same line as had been followed during 
the immediately preceding year or two. The emplo7/mei\t of all the 
machinery of the country during the first year and a half of the war 
upon army clothing made from coarse wools, left a market for fine 
cloths for civilian wear that the ensuing year had hardly satisfied. 
Fine cassimeres and other fabrics of similar grade met with ready 
sale throughout the year of 1865 at very profitable prices owing to a 
demand of unusual strength. Thus the value of fine domestic and 
foreign wools was enhanced, prices ruling very stead y during the 
entire year and on a somewhat higher level than in 1864. The de- 
clining premium of gold naturally rendered manufacturers rather 
cautious in their purchases, but the average gold price of their fleece 
for 1865 was 5.23 cents higher than in 1864, and of Cape wool 2.09 
cents higher than in the preceding year. 

The following table shows for 1864 and 1865 the value of Ohio 
fleece and Cape wool for currency and gold. The figures desig- 
nated by an asterisk show the highest and lowest prices in each year. 

VALUE OF OHIO FLEECE. 





1864. 


1865. 




Cur- 
rency. 


Gold. 


Cur- 
rency. 


Gold. 


January 


81.40 
* 75. 40 

81.20 

106. 00 

* 115. 20 

91.00 
105. 40 


* 52. 51 
46.25 

■ 46.93 

* 40. 92 
45.17 
43.96 
46.02 


* 105. 00 
99.00 
75.00 
*71.00 
74.00 
76.00 
74.00 


* 48. 80 


March 


* 56. 90 


April 


50. 69 


July 


50.00 


August 


51.75 


October 


52.06 


December 


52.03 







68 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



VALUE OF CAPE WOOL. 



January . . 

March 

April 

July 

August . . . 
October .. 
December 



1864. 



Cur- 
rency. 



42. 22 

* 39. 75 
43.87 
61. 52 
59.83 
50. 00 

* 62. 65 



Gold. 



27. 24 
24.32 
25. 41 
23. 75 

* 23. 45 
24.15 

* 27. 37 



1865. 



Cur- 
rency. 



* 55. 00 
44.40 

* 37. 23 
37.36 
37.90 
42.25 
38.75 



Gold. 



25. 34 
25.58 

* 25. 16 
26.17 
26. 50 

*29.00 
26.54 



XVII. 



The profitable market for fine cloths in the early part of 1865 not 
only stimulated domestic production to a marked degree, but encour- 
aged as well importations from foreign source. Notwithstanding the 
high tariff upon woolen goods, first importations yielded good profits, 
inducing large shipments to this country, which, added to domestic 
products, produced by the close of the year an unwieldly and danger- 
ous accumulation of stock. 

The advent of peace in early 1865 destroyed the market for military 
supplies and at once there were thrown upon the regular markets 
quantities of heavy flannels, blankets, and coarse woolens which the 
makers were obliged to sell at but little over their cost of production. 
This produced a heavy and dull market for similar goods and the 
price of coarse wools declined rapidly, while at the close of the year 
there was little demand for such wools even at greatly reduced 
quotations. 

In like manner the importations of wool into the United States 
showed a marked decrease in volume, having fallen off from 1864 
about one-third. During 1865 there had been a very satisfactory ad- 
vance made in the manufacture of what were then known as worsted 
goods, such as braids, alpacas, coat facings, and the like. In the pre- 
ceding year there had been extensive investments in machinery suit- 
able for this manufacture. The wool was obtained almost entirely 
from Canada, which under the reciprocity treaty found free entrance 
into this country. 

The unusual stimulus given the manufacture and importation of 
woolens in the early part of the civil Avar eventually caused a surfeit 
in the market. The same cause gave an impulse to speculation, and 
when goods crowded the market to overflowing they stood at a very 
high level of prices, while the cost of wool was in the same way raised 
to an extreme plane. The tariff of 1864 owed its high rates of duties 
in great measure to the efforts of farmers, speculators, and merchant^ 
to save themselves from the inevitable ruin which the continuance of 
the current tariff would have permitted. On the passage of the tariff 
of 1864 the holders of wool and goods disposed of their stock at the 
high prices then current, taking- little if any loss and in some in- 
stances profit. The goods were in great pail assimilated and the en- 
simnce of an unusually active demand for fine cloths again started 
manufacture and importing in full force. By the end of the year 
1865, despite the extreme tariff then in force, a plethora of goods was 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



69 



again experienced and a second recourse was made to that delicate 
and dangerous, if abused, vehicle of American industrial prosperity, 
the tariff. 

TARIFF TINKERING. 

In early 1866 another tariff bill, embodying even higher rates of 
duties, was drawn up and introduced into Congress, having excellent 
prospects of passing at once. The year had opened with a fairly 
active market for goods and wool, and prices were even higher, rang- 
ing for currency from 52 cents for low-grade Western to 85 cents for 
picklock. In March there was a decline in prices of from 5 to 10 
per cent, but at the reduction wool was bought very freely, in three 
months, May to June, inclusive, 12,000,000 pounds changing -hands. 
The new clip opened high in the West, in anticipation of the early 
passage of the tariff. Contrary to general expectations, however, the 
enactment of this pending bill was deferred, constituting a heavy 
blow to dealers and speculators who had been trading on the opposite 
assumption. 

In place of the looked-for advance it was found impossible to dis- 
pose of wool from July to the close of the year except at constantly 
reduced terms, and by December sales were made at prices from 
10@20 cents lower than were current during the earlier half of the 
year. 

In 1867 the tariff bill was again taken up and on March 2 became - 
a law. There was, indeed, great need of the largest possible returns 
from importations to go into the national treasury, but this can 
hardly account for the extreme schedule on wool and woolens, which 
amounted nearly to prohibition of entry. The duties on wool were 
as follows: Clothing and combing costing 32 cents or less, 10 cents 
per pound and 11 per cent ad valorem; over 32 cents, 12 cents per 
pound and 10 per cent ad valorem. Carpet wools, 12 cents or less, 
3 cents per pound ; over 12 cents, 6 cents per pound. All classes of 
scoured wool, treble the amount of duty. 

A FLICKERING FLURRY. 

Soon after the passage of the tariff there was a little increased 
demand, especially for foreign wool, at a slight advance in prices, 
but this flurry was only of short duration and the market became 
dull and heavj'. 

The civil war brought to the industrial classes of the North a most 
unusual condition of affairs. Accompanying the destruction and de- 
vastation in the Southwest were activity and prosperity in Northern 
industries. An extensive market was created for army supplies, en- 
gendering widespread employment of machinery in their production. 
When the goods were finished, further quantities were soon de- 
manded; then a portion of the early supplies were destroyed and 
others were needed in their place. The South was swept practically 
bare of its industries, and its capital was all absorbed, but for the 
northern manufactories, a market was no sooner filled and surfeited 
than it was cleaned and made ready for more. The day of reckoning, 
of paying for what had been consumed had not yet come around. It 
was, however, expected in 1867. The Union was burdened with an 
enormous debt, and when peace had been finally established the tax- 
payers in all classes of industry and commerce began to regulate their 
business to meet the impending drafts upon their capital. 



70 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The tariff of 1867 Avas high, but it did not at once serve to relieve 
the industry in the manner contemplated. It had, however, the effect 
of restricting* importation in a marked degree, but notwithstanding 
this aid and protection the industry was forced to suffer the natural 
reaction from the preceding season of overtrading. 



MANUFACTURERS MEET. 

The liberal importations of wool in anticipation of the passage of 
a higher tariff bill and the continued employment of machinery pro- 
duced by the commencement of 1868 an accumulation of woolen goods. 
The market was surfeited and heavy, and manufacturers not only 
found it difficult to dispose of their goods except at reductions, but 
were also unable in many instances to effect sales at all. Alarmed at 
the serious prospects before them, manufacturers of wool met in con- 
vention in the early part of the }^ear to agree upon an arrangement 
by which production should be curtailed one-fourth. 

Notwithstanding the general assimilation of wool and the presence 
of only about an average supply, the industry remained in an unsatis- 
factory condition throughout the greater part of 1868. The market 
showed a continued downward tendency until the early fall, when 
the inception of a better demand of a special nature brought some 
improvement into the situation, and by the close of the year prices 
were about on the same level as at the beginning. The fashion then 
in vogue of wearing, in common business use, coarse cloth very similar 
to the Scotch cheviot goods, created a stronger demand for the lower 
grades of domestic wools, and, owing to the small supply, raised 
prices to nearly the same level as was obtainable for the finer qualities. 

Traceable to the influence of the high tariff of 1867 was the con- 
struction of additional woolen mills, especially in the West, but in 
spite of the increased capacity for consumption and a restricted for- 
eign competition in wools, prices were so low and the prospects of 
wool growing were consequently so discouraging, that farmers 
slaughtered their flocks quite extensively. 

In 1866 the imports of foreign wools into Boston amounted to 
20,027,958 and into New York to 36,066,176. Thus in two years, ow- 
ing to the enactment of a high tariff and a depressed condition of 
the industry, the imports into the local market had decreased in vol- 
ume about one-half. 

The importations into Boston for 1867 and 1868 were as follows : 





1867. 


1868. 


England . . 


Pounds. 

661,818 
6,521,681 
2,180,665 

913,557 
'J, 202, 970 

205,204 


Pounds. 

1.117.373 


Buenos Aires . . 


2,580,818 


Turkev . . 


2,361,991 


Cape of Good Hope 


Ms, 751 


Peru and Chile 


2,440,178 


All others . . 


L,U9,686 






Tot nl 


12,675,880 
19,858,869 


10, 378. 791 


New York . . 


18, 166,685 







In L869 the condition of general business had improved in accord- 
ance with the improvement in the money market. Moreover, the de- 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 71 

cision by Congress in February of the preceding year to postpone 
the contemplated adjustment of the national financial status had 
removed what had been a restricting influence upon commerce, and 
trading assumed its customary proportions and activity. Neverthe- 
less, the wool industry continued under a cloud, particularly manu- 
facture and the goods market. 

Throughout 1869 and 1870 the trade in woolens was very unsatis- 
factory and was attended with little profit. But these two years 
marked a period in which the market threw off many of its depressing 
influences and righted itself for a temporary return to a more pros- 
perous condition. At the opening of the clip season in 1869 low 
prices were expected on account of the depression in manufacture and 
the apathy of the goods market. Yet when the first of the new clip 
was ready for the market the keen competition shown by buyers in 
securing the combing fleece of Kentucky and Missouri advanced 
prices about 5 cents per pound and extended a similar influence upon 
the clothing wools that came to the market later. This advance was 
entirety unwarranted by the condition of the goods market and re- 
sulted in a steady decline to the close of the year. The importations 
of foreign wool showed, indeed, a marked increase in 1869, but the 
greater part of the wool brought into the country was of the lower 
grades. 

FAILURES AND DEPRESSION. 

Toward the close of 1869 there were several failures among wool 
manufacturers, and during the greater part of the following year 
the industry had not recovered from its depression. In 1870 the 
production of foreign wool showed a great falling off, due to the 
extensive slaughter of sheep for mutton purposes. In the latter part 
of 1870 the depleted stock of foreign wool and the light supply of 
domestic wools led to expectations of some advance in prices, but on 
the other hand the production of goods was restricted, and the only 
scarcity perceptible in the supply of raw materials was perhaps in 
medium grades and in combing fleeces, which received the bulk of the 
light demand. 

The Franco-Prussian war, commencing in July of 1870, restricted 
the demand for fine wools in Europe, resulting in an accumulation of 
these qualities especially in the markets of the Continent. Prices 
of fine wool had by this time fallen to a low level throughout the 
world, but the decline had been greatest in Europe for the reasons 
noted. On account of large supplies abroad and the low level prices 
current our dealers and manufacturers were enabled to import wool 
thence advantageously in spite of the high tariff in force under the 
act of 1867. 

Furthermore, the stocks of manufactured goods, which had sur- 
feited domestic markets for the past half dozen years or so, were by 
that time fairty well distributed, so that the year 1870 closed with 
favorable conditions obtaining in the market for raw materials as 
well as in woolen goods. 



72 



THE WOOL TKADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



IMPORTATIONS. 



The importations of foreign wool into the local market for 1869 
and 1870 were as follows : 



England 

Buenos Aires 

Turkey 

Cape of Good Hope 

Peru and Chile 

All others 

Total 

New York 



1869. 



1870. 



Pounds. 


Pounds. 


4, 231, 283 


2,037,030 


7, 183, 963 


5, 255, 562 


3, 086, 547 


1, 804, 123 


1, 781, 066 


3, 142, 537 


2, 158, 602 


1, 565, 824 


1, 513, 071 


1, 416, 071 


19, 954, 532 


15,221,147 


21,570,430 


12, 460, 290 



The clip of the United States for 1870 amounted to 163,000,000 
pounds, as compared with 162,250,000 in 1869 and 60,000,000 in 1860. 

On the 1st of June, 1860, the number of woolen establishments in 
the United States was 1,260, representing a capital of $30,862,654. 
The consumption of raw material included 83,608,468 pounds of wool 
and 15,200,061 pounds of cotton, employing 3,209 sets of machinery, 
costing with all other materials, $36,586,887. The industry gave em- 
ployment to 24,841 male and 16,519 female hands, and the annual 
wages amounted to $9,808,254. The aggregate value of the products 
was $61,895,217, in which was represented the value of 124,897,862 
yards of cloth, 6,401,206 pounds of yarn, 296,874 pairs of blankets, etc. 



MACHINERY AND LABOR EMPLOYED. 

In New England there were 398 establishments, of which the aggre- 
gate capital was .$18,753,453, employing 14,840 males and 10,743 
females, whose wages amounted to $6,144,847. The mills in the 
East were of larger size than elsewhere in the county, employing 
1,664 sets of machinery, or more than 50 per cent of the total num- 
ber in use in the country. The consumption of wool in the New 
England mills amounted to 57,819,930 pounds and of cotton 9,835,078 
pounds. The cost of the raw material was $24,912,617. The pro- 
duction of woolens amounted in value to $40,668,498, an increase of 
62 per cent upon the production of the same States in 1850. 

Massachusetts was the largest and most prominent manufacturing 
State in the Union, having 134 establishments at a total capitalization 
of $8,993,953, or an average of $67,118 to each mill. In the mills of 
Massachusetts there were employed 821 sets of machinery, consuming 
annually 33,516,797 pounds of wool and 4,855,370 pounds of cotton, 
an average to each set of 40,824 pounds of wool and 5,914 pounds of 
cotton. The total annual production comprised 34,899,348 yards of 
cloth, 2,160,071 pounds of yarn, 57,207 pairs of blankets, and 157.000 
shawls. The value of these products amounted to $19,655,787, an 
increase of $687,427, or 53.78 per cent over 1850. 

In 1870 there were in the United States 1,891 woolen establish- 
ments, an increase in ten years of 1,631 plants, or 129.44 per cent. In 
these mills there were in use 8,366 sets of cards, consuming annually 
17,571,929 pounds of cotton, 154,767,895 pounds of domestic and 



THE WOOL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



73 



17,311,824 pounds of foreign wool, and 19,372,062 pounds of shoddy. 
The total capitalization amounted to $98,824,531. There were 80,053 
hands employed and the cost of wages was $26,877,575, which, with 
raw materials, made the total cost of production $96,432,601. There 
were produced annually 2,000,439 pairs of blankets, 58,550 pairs of 
horse blankets, 261,208 yards of beavers, 63,340,612 yards of cloth, 
cassimeres, and doeskins, 1,941,865 yards of felted cloth, 1,932,382 
yards of " negro " cloth, 58,965,286 yards of flannels, 24,489,985 yards 
of jeans, 5,506,902 kerseys, 14,130,274 yards of linseys, 14,072,559 
yards of satinets, etc. The value of all products was $155,415,358. 

Massachusetts was in 1871 the largest producer of woolens, al- 
though she stood fourth in the number of establishments. Pennsyl- 
vania came first with 457 plants, New York second with 252, Ohio 
third with 223, and Massachusetts fourth with 185. However, in 
the size and capacity of her mills Massachusetts easily predominated. 
The comparison between Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, the two 
most prominent States, was as follows : 



Massachusetts . 
Pennsylvania . 



Mills. 



185 
457 



Sets of 
cards. 



1,367 
1,317 



Capital. 



£20, 633, 400 
14, 238, 835 



Consumption. 



Domestic. Foreign. Cotton 



Pounds. 
37, 146, 190 
21, 349, 389 



Pounds. 
7, 201, 248 
3, 214, 850 



Pounds. 
2, 813, 449 
6, 989, 201 





Hands. 


Wages. 


Cost of pro- 
duction. 


Value of 
products. 


Massachusetts 


20, 550 
12, 764 


$7, 298, 302 
4, 373, 628 


$24, 876, 318 
17, 457, 913 


$39, 502, 542 


Pennsylvania 


27, 580, 586 







LE S '09 






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